Yoinokuchi: Fall Of The Red Dawn
by yinandyangman
Summary: Dominoes, thats basically life in a word, just one thing crashing into another until they all fall. Question is, how will the Hokage control it?
1. First prolouge: Who are you?

I don't own Naruto, though it would be kick ass if I did...

(AN: Hello readers!Thank's to one of my reviewers comments,who had so kindly put out a flaw here, you do not have to read this chapter. IF you still want to go ahead but it reveal nothing of the plot. This part is just saying some spoilers up to chapter 282 in the manga. So if you want no spoilers, or if you already know everything up to that chapter, then skip a head thank you for your time.)

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_Prologue: Once upon a time..._

A single man walked down the great forest of the Fire Country, just one of the many provinces that make up the Shinobi Continent today...though it is the most powerful country out of all of them, barely winning over the Wind country by a slight margin. Recent history had made sure that this place will always be remembered, even after when time would turn this majestic land to nothing but dust.

The traveling man came upon a village, a well-known village that held countless legends and mysteries, clandestine secrets that only a select few of the important higher-ups know, and other world-shattering secrets that will never meet the grace of passing through persons' lips. This is the place where entire thing started for him, and it is where it ended as well.

The man smiled as he saw the village, calming memories and serene thoughts entered his mind. This is one of the few places in this world where he could truly relax and smile. He smiled even more when he was inside, he doubted anyone would recognize him, he had not shown his face here in over twenty years, and a lot can change in that time. Just like that building over there...

He remembered when it was nothing more that a ghetto-style apartment complex that was run by an old man that hated everyone and everything, bar the Hokage of course. Without another thought going through his mind the man entered the building to seek lodgings.

The man at the desk was younger than he remembered, he then realized it was not the old man he was expecting, sadness filled his heart when he expected what had happened to the old coot.

The said man on the desk looked up when he heard the door open, he was expecting one of his friends to yell out his name, but instead found a stranger looking at him oddly. "Oi! Oi! Who are you? I've lived here all my life and I've never seen you around before!"

The visiting stranger just smirked in his own mind at the other mans reaction; he dared not openly show his reaction, for caution warned not to make anyone in this village suspicious for any reason. _(I knew they wouldn't recognize me, this just might make my stay all the more interesting...)_

_"_Its all right, I have not come to this village to cause mischief. I doubt anyone is fool enough to, I'm sure the famous ninja of Konoha would cut me or anyone else down before anything happens." He observed the man carefully, he saw a glint of pride in his eyes, and he smiled at the man's affection for his home. "What I am looking for is a place to stay for the night, but since I'm not welcome here, I guess I'll take my money elsewhere." The man jingled his money sack as leverage; no sane merchant would pass that up.

"Wait, did you say you wanted lodgings here?" asked the man eyeing the bag. "Well then, welcome to the Naruto Inn! The best lodgings in all of Konoha!"

"Naruto Inn?" inquired the man. "That is a peculiar name; tell me, does it have a story behind it?" The man knew of the story, of course, no one in the entire ninja continent couldn't possibly _not_ know that story. Besides he had a part in it...He just wanted to see how far it had grown in the last couple decades he was gone.

"Is there a story behind it? IS THERE A STORY BEHIND IT?!" The man behind the counter shook. "You, young man have to be taught in the very history of this continent! No one should live their lives without feeding their minds this story; anyone who has is completely insane! But I have to admit, your clothes look very foreign, I would guess that you are from the lands to the west, where the soldiers roam in metal suits of armor. If that is true then it's no wonder that you haven't heard the story." The man behind the desk then slammed his hands on the desk and pointed to the stranger. "Very well, I claim it as my eternal duty to tell you of this epiphany of literatures! This mastery of history! This god among other stories! Or my name is not Rock Rai!"

The visiting young man felt the largest sweat drop that had ever graced his head slither down the back of his neck, it really shouldn't be as much of a shock as it was, considering this man _did_ come from the Rock clan...But it still sent shivers down his spine as he imagined an entire legion of men in green leotards.

The desk clerk had jumped to the door and turned over the 'open' sign to 'closed', he then closed all the curtains and turned on all of his lights. He dragged the visitor with ease outside of the building, and ran all the way to the Konoha City Park. The visitor saw many familiar sight blurred by the speed he was going through, he saw the young ninja training academy that was still undoubtedly run by the same teacher he had come to respect all those decades ago, the ramen bar that had once been a small stand had grown to a full blown franchise that had spread all over the continent; but with its original founders still cooking up the same boiled noodles and the rickety old stand, the coliseum which he demonstrated to nearly the entire world just how powerful he was stood rebuilt and glamorized with spectacular decorations and reinforced walls and beams, finally the once-destroyed Hokage monument was re-carved into the repaired cliff side not only depicting the faces of the Hokages, but each with their own personal stance as well.

The stranger only realized he was in the park when everything stopped moving and his blurry vision cleared, Rai had set him down on a bench that faced the busy streets of Konoha's market district rather than the calm serenity of Konoha's illustrious park. Rai cleared his throat, and great concentration for dramatic effect, the man named Rai started his story.

"It started about fifty years ago, the nine tailed demon fox had let its fury out on the world. Villages, cities, and armies alike fell to its power. Until it came here; Konoha was just going to be another mark on the wall for the great beast, but our fourth Hokage, the Yondaime, would not let that happen. So he made a pact with the Shigikami, to seal the fox into a newborn baby, whose umbilical cord was freshly cut. You see, it had to be a baby or else the demon would just escape and destroy everything all over again. Before the Yondaime died, this baby was asked by the fourth to regarded as a hero by the village, since he carried an incomparable burden. You would think the villagers would hear his plea but they didn't. The villagers hated the boy, but more specifically the demon he held, thus the village saw him as the actual demon, and not the demon's _vessel_. The predecessor of the Yondaime, the Sandaime, created a law to never hurt the vessel or even speak about the demon he carried. To take out their frustration of being unable to kill the boy, the villagers did the next best thing they could do; they isolated the boy, and subtly treated him like the demon he wasn't. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, the boy suffered in his own personal hell the villagers made for him. What went through a mind like that? A childish mind who didn't know why he wasn't punished, most likely for something he didn't do. But the boy held on, hoping for something, anything…that would pull him into the light of life."

Both men noticed the sounds of smallish feet patting the ground hurriedly towards them, but most of them were no more than gentle pats on the ground, but that was to be expected. The youth of this village were taught how to be silent at very young ages, to prepare them for their future lives. As the children started gathering around, the stranger could not help but muse the number times they heard the story before, but he guessed, to them; and to many adults as well, it never got old.

"The opportunity showed itself at his third failure from the ninja academy, as you know Konoha is a _hidden_ village, a village of ninja. Though how a village could be hidden when it is on a map I'll never know." Rai's audience laughed at his joke, many felt the same way too. "Anyway where was I? Oh yeah! The baby's name was Naruto Uzumaki. Weird name huh? 'Fish-Cake Whirlpool' that's quite the name..." He was complimented with another round of laughs. "Well Naruto found his first true friend there and something like a father as well. His teacher Iruka. Iruka was a very kind man, and had a quote he lived by every day. 'A regular teacher teaches, a good teacher explains, a better teacher demonstrates, but a great teacher inspires.' And did he inspire, in that year that Naruto failed for the third time, remember how I told you the villages hated the boy? Well so did the ninjas, they refused to acknowledge the boy and decided to always hold him back. They always decided the final exam on his worst techniques so Naruto would never pass. In that year Iruka also graduated eight others. All of them with the potential to become the greatest shinobi (ninja) this village has ever seen."

"All of them were good friends, some of them even married each other, and all were allies of Naruto. Allies that he needed and would need at the right time. They pulled him from the path of the nuke-nin (missing-nin) and helped him to achieve his life long dream to become a Kage (Ninja lord/ literally translates to shadow). But how would Naruto become a Kage if he did not graduate from the academy? Well, on his third failure he was tricked by a traitor, a man named Mizuki. He told Naruto to steal a secret scroll from the Kage tower, amazingly Naruto succeeded. And soon learned what would become his trade-mark technique, the Kage Bunshin no jutsu. (Shadow clone technique)"

"After he learned that technique his sensei (teacher), Iruka appeared, and told him to return the scroll he stole. Naruto first ignored his teacher and decided to show him his new technique instead. After he did, Mizuki showed up and tried to kill Iruka; Naruto saw this and asked why. Mizuki told him it was because he wanted to become the strongest ninja ever, and he needed that scroll to do that. But Mizuki did not stop there, soon after Mizuki told Naruto why everyone hated him. He told them of the Kyuubi no Kitsune (Nine-tailed fox) sealed inside him. Naturally this did not go well with Naruto, so he ran away, thinking his entire village betrayed him. Iruka eventually caught up to Naruto, and was able to convince Naruto that he was with him all the way, even if he did have a demon inside him. Thus Naruto achieved his first friend...and beat his first enemy, Mizuki, who tried to kill Iruka. Naruto used his new shadow clone skill to kick Mizuki's ass to next Wednesday, and became a new shinobi of the leaf with future missions to lead him to the Kage tower."

Rai and his new guest smiled as they saw some of the children attempting the shadow clone skill, with some of them succeeding. Kage Bunshin had now become one of the most elementary attacks of Konoha, and was absolutely needed to pass the level of chunnin (Middle-ninja).

"But to truly become shinobi, Naruto had to pass another test. A much harder one at that, Naruto along with new team mates Sasuke and Sakura, had to beat their sensei Kakashi in a duel. At first they lost, but after a secret test made by Kakashi, they had all passed and became true shinobi. I heard they did a pretty famous thing in wave country, but I'm a bit sketchy on the details, all I know it was a C-rank mission gone A-rank. You have to ask the Tazuna family for details, they're always up to tell anyone the exploits of Naruto. If you want a better story though, you should check the arena records of the Chunnin exams of about thirty-eight years ago. Then you'll see why he's a legend, beating the sand demon Shukaku, also known as the Ichibi, the one-tailed beast, will give you that title."

"A demon?" Asked the newcomer, "I thought the last of the demons was Kyuubi, and you just said he was sealed inside Naruto."

"That is true, but I guess I have to pick my words wiser next time neh? Orochimaru, one of the three Sannin of old..." Loud booing and hissing interrupted the story teller, who just laughed in amusement, while the visiting traveler just raised an eyebrow.

"As I was saying, Orochimaru, one of the three Sannin of old had created a new hidden village, Otogakure, the Village hidden in the Sound. Otogakure had allied itself with Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sand, so the two villages could attack our Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, to try and claim its lands and rise in power in the world. The Ichibi was sealed inside one of the sand gennins and was released to fight; Naruto fought and conquered Shukaku, the Ichibi, right after the Chunnin exams, and saved the village. Sadly, Konoha still lost its Sandaime Hokage and had to rebuild itself. Naruto, and his new temporary sensei Jiraiya, (the second of the three legendary sannin of old) had a mission to retrieve Tsunade, the last of the three legendary sannin of old. He ran into Orochimaru when he found her, and his lackey Kabuto, as well, he was another traitor to the leaf. The two traitors tried to seduce Tsunade with false promises of bringing back her loved ones with a forbidden jutsu, key term: tried. Tsunade tricked Orochimaru, a huge feat in itself, and with the help of Jiraiya, Naruto, and her own apprentice Shizune; sent Orochimaru and Kabuto back to Otogakure with a limp, a very bad limp."

The children cheered at the victory, their guardians smiling at their actions. Though only a handful of them were there, most were not born yet, or too young to remember. The life of a shinobi can be cut sort at any time, so it was always great to hear a victory of the leaf.

"Soon after that it seemed that Naruto's life was looking up for the first time ever in his young life. He was getting stronger by the day, he finally had friends, he was getting closer to his dreams, and he finally had the respect and recognition he so desperately wanted since he was just a baby. Then tragedy struck. Naruto's best and closest friend was Sasuke, and he was a shinobi of many names: number one rookie, loner, heart-breaker, but most importantly to Naruto, he was a friend and rival... To Sasuke however, his most important title was the avenger. He had lost his entire clan to his brother's sick mind, and swore revenge upon him. Thus he was not only the last true Uchiha, but the lonely avenger of the Uchihas.

"Sasuke's ambition would prove to be the one reason Naruto left Konoha. Sasuke had betrayed Naruto for power, a power offered by one of Naruto's worst enemies no less! Orochimaru had acted like the snake he was and placed a curse upon him, because of this curse Sasuke went insane and tried to kill his friend. Naruto, now heartbroken over loosing his own 'brother', lost to Sasuke and broke his promise to his other team-mate Sakura. You see, Naruto promised Sakura that he would bring back Sasuke, for she loved Sasuke with all her heart. But he was unable to keep the promise, and his soul finally broke.

The girl portion of the children started to cry a bit, while the boys were struggling to hold the same tears back, it was one of the more sadder parts of the story. The entire village could sympathize with Naruto when he lost his best friend; too many people in this village had lost their heritage, their families, and their friends to that snake, for one reason or another.

"He left after that, not for too long though, just about two and a half years. When he came back he looked like his old self again. He even had a mission to rescue the Kazekage in the Land of the Winds! I believe that he defeated one of the legendary Akatsuki as well...Yes, Deidara was his name. Deidara was defeated by Naruto and his gennin sensei Kakashi. This weird guy had freaky mouths on his hands which ate up clay and did weird stuff with it. Like make explosions and create living clay animals. Even though he did not die, his partner, Sasori of the Red sands did. Sasori was killed by his own grandmother, Chiyo, and Sakura, who was trained by Tsunade during the two and a half years Naruto was with Jiraiya. After the Kazekage was saved Naruto and his allies went back home, by the way the Kazekage was Gaara, the gennin from the chunnin exams who had the Ichibi sealed within him."

The stranger understood it was his cue to look astonished, even though he already knew. He was annoyed that he had to change the expression on his face every so often to make it look like he has never heard the story before, but he had only himself to blame. It was his fault and no one else's that he was in his predicament. But the end would justify the means, or so he told himself. He could not wait for the moment that he would reveal his identity…he had to remember to bring a camera for the occasion; he knew their expressions would be priceless.

(_Kodak Moment)_ he thought mischievously.

The stranger looked up for a while and noticed it was getting dark now, the sun began to set and the adults picked up their children. The children didn't want to leave and begged to stay so they could listen to the story more. The newcomer saw this and decided to help the little ones, besides, his ass was falling asleep.

"Hey Rai, do me a favor huh? Hold off the story for now and tell me it tomorrow, its getting quite late and I'm feeling very tired."

Rai also noticed the disappointment in the children's eyes, and decided to help as well. "All right, I guess we should go, I'll tell another chapter of the story tomorrow. How about noon tomorrow? You should know when the time is because the academy gets out at that time."

The visitor nodded and started walking away, when Rai asked him where he was going, the visitor just smiled and gave his riddle of an answer. "To where greatest of people share the Earth with those who are unknown."

But first, he had to stop at a liquor store, the old landlord would yell at him in the afterlife for not bringing him some sake.

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**_Review, I demand it!_**


	2. Chapter 1: Secrets out

**I don't own Naruto, or the song _Anthesia_ by Blink 182. If I did own Naruto, i would aquire th power of Kyuubi and I'd be ruling the world with an iron fist slaughtering all who oppose me and throwing their souls to the deepest parts of hell. And let all humanity suffer an endless pain under my absolute control...**

**I'll shut up now...**

**_Epilouge pt 2: Out of the Shadows! Kyuubi Revealed!_**

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The Visitor was waiting in the spot that Rai told him to wait. He had already visited the landlord, and was surprised to find Old man Ichiraku there as well. He bought another bottle of sake and drank another round for another of his old friends. A bell rang off in the distance, telling the stranger that Rai and the children would arrive soon.

In the few minutes after the bell rang, dozens of shinobi hopefuls and Rai took the same positions they had yesterday. The stranger also noticed some of the adults from before had arrived as well, sitting in the branches of the nearby trees or in their shade.

Once all were present, Rai began his tale.

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It was an awesome day! It was beautiful day with out a cloud in sight, there were no missions to stress the nerves, and the scent of pots filled to the brim with ramen threatened to over take his senses.

Naruto whooped at how he was feeling today, and ran to the old man Ichiraku's stand for his daily godsend of a food. Naruto certainly seemed like the happy boy he should be, but those who truly know him knew better. They knew that Naruto was still hurting inside, still vulnerable from the loss of his teammate Sasuke.

At least Naruto had returned to the village and met some his old friends. They all had a great time catching up, Obaa-chan was still as mean as ever with that temper of hers, and Shizune is still trying to keep her gambling problems under control. Kakashi-Sensei was still an open pervert and was more than happy with his gift, the newest edition of the Icha Icha series: Icha Icha Tactics! Iruka was still fatherly and loving as ever, and he had plenty of cash for ramen too! Ichiraku's was still the same, and Ojii-san and Ayame were happy to finally have their friend and number-one customer back, Shino is still mysterious, even more so with all those clothes on him. Kiba and Akamaru are still loud, the only difference was Akamaru's ginormous size. Chouji was still, well... Chouji, Shikamaru is still lazy, and Ino was still being a loud bitch. Neji has defied the gods an had opened up more, Tenten still has those hair buns and unhealthy addiction for anything sharp, Gai and Lee are still weird and creepy, Asuma and Kurenai have opened with their relationship and remain unchanged for the most part, Sakura was still the same Sakura and Hinata still faints and blushes around him...

Many hours later, after his twentieth bowl of ramen, Naruto decided to return home, but not before visiting an old spot of his. He hadn't been there in three years, the last time he was there was right before he became gennin. It still had a very close place in his heart, after all, that's where he had decided to make his promise to become Hokage.

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Naruto stared at the site below him, Konoha was shining in all of is glory in the night. He could still see the many things that help him decide that this wonderful place was worth defending for. He still saw the team 7 training grounds, the birth of his own squad, he saw the chunnin coliseum, where he had reunited with his entire academy friends and made new ones as well. He saw the clan communities that his friends belonged to, all of them giving off an aura of power and pride.

It was only because that Naruto was admiring his home so much, that he did not hear a group of ninja sneaking towards him, all of them poised to fight

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Tsunade sighed at her office, because she went to catch up with the brat she had an even greater stack of paperwork to do. She kept on looking through them until she got to the last batch, they were all vacation notices.

Tsunade gave off another annoyed sigh, she hated it when shinobi went on vacation, especially since they had just barely recovered from the Sand-Sound attack two and half years previous, it just made all that harder who to choose for the next batch of missions. She could just ignore them…but then Shizune would make a huge fit over it, not to mention that she would have even more work to look over tomorrow.

Tsunade carelessly approved the vacation papers by stamping the Hokage seal on them; there was no real importance in reading into them. The stamp itself was simply used to insure the administrators that she had actually taken the time to glance at the papers; and to make it official that the shinobi present on the papers would not be disturbed unless it was an order from the Hokage herself.

While stamping the papers in a quick and ignorant fashion she had completely missed the fact that some of the vacationing shinobi were known of being Anti-Kyuubi extremist…and had been known for being repeatedly sent to jail in numerous circumstances.

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(Snap!)

Naruto turned around at the sound, and cursed himself mentally for letting his guard down. He pulled out a kunai and shot into the forest towards the noise. He heard the dull noise of metal hitting wood and fell into a battle stance. He did not yell, training with the Ero-sennin had taught him patience in battle, if not in life.

His patience was rewarded with a volley of shuriken; Naruto retaliated by summoning a squad of kage-bunshins as human shields. Once the spinning star blades were disposed of, Naruto summoned another squad of clones and hid them throughout the area, including himself.

The attacking ninja finally appeared to inspect he area for any signs of a trail. It only took a few seconds for a ninja to find a snapped twig and headed on it that direction, but before his teammates could even turn in his direction, that same ninja was impaled by a ransengan through the gut.

The unfortunate ninja could not even scream out in pain as his lungs were ripped out and shredded into nothing more but smashed hamburger. Angered, the dead ninja's comrades charged Naruto in a blind fury, confident that a single 15-year old gennin could not take out an entire squad of chunnin with decades more experience than him.

Naruto himself was angered at these ninja as well, not for attacking him that was actually the last thing on his mind right now. He was mad at these idiots for taking such a novice tactic as charging head-on, especially if their target could use the fourth's signature technique the ransengan. They were underestimating him like all of his former opponents before them, and like the rest, the will fall to him as well.

With a tired sigh Naruto stood calmly in his spot, unmoving with a cold expression on his face. Hands' hanging loosely besides his waist, Naruto was making subtle motions wit his fingers, making them dance faster as the shinobi closed in on him.

Whether unnoticed or disregarded by the enemy shinobi, the enemy shinobi charged in faster to the demonic vessel that haunted their nightmares since it was born. They did not see how deep they were into the trap until they heard one less octave in their battle cry.

Stopping completely, the enemy shinobi saw that another one of their own were missing, pulling down their number to six. A second later a quick scuffle was heard off to the right, and the number fell to five. One ninja lost his nerve and tried to run away, only to be dragged sown into the Earth by a pair of hands,

"And then there were four, if you do not want to know what happened to those men, or if you want the same to happen to your own person. You will leave at once." Exclaimed Naruto.

The other ninja's regarded at each other for a moment, as if talking in some unseen level. Once finished, they all turned to Naruto and redrew their weapons. They would not fail, not after all these years of preparation.

Naruto could not but help admire their courage and determination; they were just like him in a small way. And for that, he will honor their challenge by fighting to his maximum capacity. Naruto created a ransengan in his hand and charged with a grim smile on his face.

The fighting was just as intense as it was agonizing, for the attackers anyway. The remaining group of four tried to overtake Naruto with their numbers, using swords and kunai in quick and deadly strikes to lead Naruto into a trap.

Naruto was none the wiser when the squad leader appeared, unlike the rest of the group; he was an ANBU, the best of the best in the village. The ANBU was just about to run Naruto through with a katana when one of his squad got a lucky hit in, his supposed target should have been crippled and thus an easier target, but instead he disappeared.

_(A clone!) _Were the thoughts of everyone and they regrouped in the centre of the clearing, never falling out of stance. It was too much of a risk to separate, if they stayed together, they would be able to eventually over come the boy.

These thoughts were destroy when Naruto summoned enough clones to take over half the village. What was worse was that he had used the fox's chakra, so each and every clone had clawed hands, thicker whiskers, and the eyes of the nine-tailed demon fox.

It seemed that the scene was too much for one ninja as he started going into a seizure and fell to floor, rendering him unable to fight.

When Naruto saw this he was confused, he never had that sort of reaction when he fought enemy-nin, why were these guys so afraid of him? The only people that truly feared him were the one from his own village...

Naruto's eyes widened when he realized what was going on...he was being assassinated...by the very village he lives in.

Naruto revealed himself from his hiding place, with a look that can only be described as defeated. This was a strange thing to see when the groups of four, five if you count the human vegetable on the floor, are the ones who are at the end of the rope.

"I do not want to fight you."

That simple statement froze all who were present, why didn't Naruto want to fight them? Was the group to weak for him? Or was he just bored and decided it was not worth the trouble fighting them. One of the group asked Naruto this, and strangely Naruto just smiled.

"I do know the reason why you five and your friends hate me, and I respect that. You have lost your loved ones to a demon that knows no compassion, who thrives at the pain of his enemies and relishes at the taste of blood on his tongue."

Naruto's voice then turned cold. "But that gives you no right to attack me, a fellow ninja of the leaf. It is only because we fight under the same symbol that I let you live, you probably could have of defeated me, if you though it out. I have not spent the last three years training under Jiraiya for nothing."

The chunnin refused to look at him, knowing that they were defeated, but the ANBU member laughed. Naruto had thought the man had gone crazy, but was quickly corrected when he started to speak in coherent sentences.

"You fool; do you really believe I see you as a shinobi of the leaf? Do you believe that anyone does? You are a threat to this village; you always have and always will be." The ANBU's word stung, but Naruto had faced worse words before. But before Naruto could speak again, he was interrupted by the ANBU yet again.

"Do not try to correct me by using your friends. They are only a relatively small portion of this village. Would only a couple dozen ninja be able to hold back the nine-tailed demon fox inside of you? Or would their words be able to sway the entire village to gain your trust? No. You're dream of becoming Hokage is a foolish and pointless dream that will _never_ come true."

Naruto attacked the man in a rage; to lash him with words was one thing, but to drag his precious people into this and to spit on his dream was another. With unrelenting fury Naruto began attacking the man. Who was now smiling behind his mask, Naruto had just played into his hand.

Before Naruto knew it, he was impaled by hundreds of thousands of senbon (needles), to the outside; he looked nothing more than a stack of steel pins.

The three younger shinobi were about to cry out in joy for finally defeating the evil beast that was the Kyuubi, but they were quickly silenced by their commanding officer. They watched closely as the needles that held their captive suddenly burst as if in an explosion had occurred there in their place, was Naruto. And the aura of the Kyuubi no Kitsune surrounding his body.

Naruto looked completely unharmed, but the strange bubbling chakra that surrounded held many holes, but were quickly refilled with demonic chakra. The ANBU was slightly intimidated by this act, and decided to call in the bigger guns. The ANBU then brought out a summoning scroll and threw into the air.

Instantly, a flare shot out, temporarily blinding Naruto with its shine. The ANBU was chuckling now, he knew he had won, he may loose his life in the process, but he will win. He turned around and told the rest of his group to fall back, and wait with the others incase he would need back-up, but he highly doubted it.

Once the stars and spots were out of Naruto's field of vision, he concentrated on the flesh-rat that had dared blinded him. Humph, this one would not sate his thirst for blood. He then sniffed the air, this one would not be enough, but the rest that were coming would be more than enough...maybe.

Naruto mentally slapped himself, he had almost let Kyuubi take control again, and he was being careless with all the commotions going around, he would not let that happen again.

Naruto and the ANBU did not have to wait long for their expected company, soon the entire place was filled with jounins of all caliber, special, elite, fresh, etc. Naruto was now feeling very uneasy, four or five jounin he could handle, but three full squads? Plus an ANBU! These guys were serious, even with all three tails he had, he knew he would not win this battle.

But he would not let them see that, He would fight them to the last, it was his nindo…his ninja way.

* * *

Somewhere far away, a mysterious figure started to smile; his plan was going on without any problems whatsoever. If things kept running smoothly, he should have the fox out of his den in mere hours.

* * *

The fight had been going on for twenty minutes now, Naruto had been able to take out a few the ninja, and was already starting to wear down. But the rest of his enemies were still fresh and ready, and attacking relentlessly against him. If the battle kept on going on like thins, Naruto would ultimately lose, but Naruto was just as bull-headed as ever and decided to call upon the fox to see if he could pull one more trick out of his ass.

* * *

Naruto found himself inside the seal once again, the familiar scene of a sewer inside his bowels irked him in some way. Why would there be a sewer system where his stomach should be? Casting such thoughts aside, Naruto walked up to the great fox inside his cage.

"We're in trouble you know" Said Naruto.

**I CAN SEE THAT INSECT **The fox rumbled out in his ancient voice.

"What are we going to do about it?"

A long silenced washed over them as Kyuubi pondered about this.

Suddenly Kyuubi widened his eyes, but just as quickly he shut them. **THERE IS ONE WAY, BUT YOU'RE ANNOYING _HUMAN_ MORALS WOULD CLOUD YOUR JUDGMENT ABOUT IT. **The way he had literally choked the word 'human' out was a clear window in his distaste of them.

Naruto thought about it for a moment, and answered that he would be the judge of that.

The Kyuubi eyes bobbed up and down, signaling that he had heard Naruto. **WE COULD MAKE A PACT, THINK OF IT AS ONE OF THOSE ALLIANCES YOU HUMANS MAKE WITH ONE ANOTHER. WE BOTH TRADE SOMETHING THAT THE OTHER WANTS TO FIND A PEACE BETWEEN US. I CAN LEND YOU ** **A WAY**** TO SUMMON MY CHAKRA AT WILL, ALL OF MY CHAKRA.**

"And what do you want in return?" Asked Naruto, he did not like where this was going, but the offer was very, very tempting.

**KU, KU, KU, YOU LEND ME A BODY. **

Naruto's initial reaction was to yell a 'Hell No!' to the beast, after all, who would want a rampaging megalomaniacal nine-tailed demon fox hung-up on complete and utter chaos and destruction? But as he looked closer into the fox eyes, a simple feat seeing as the two orbs are quite literally half his size, he could feel the fox's desperation of wanting him to say no, but at the same time would be the happiest damn thing that ever walked on four legs if he said yes.

The realization disturbed Naruto greatly. "You know I can't do that" he finally said. "Think of something else"

The demon clashed against the gates; but hardly with the force he used when the giant beast first met Naruto, though whether from resignation or planned was an entirely different matter up to debate.

**FOOL! YOU WOULD HAVE THE POWER OF A THOUSAND SUNS IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND! **

"Like you would actually give it to me? I may be slow in many things stupid fox, but I can still spot a prank a mile away. I _know_ that you would take the chance to take the body and your power and send me to hell in a million different ways."

A low grumbling was his only response for a moment until the fox gave a harsh grunt, but there was still no authentic anger coming from behind the giant cage, but more of a twisted mirth flowing in small waves…as if they were restrained from flooding the complex sewer system that was Naruto's navel.

**FINE, BE THAT WAY WHELP…BUT DON'T EXPECT ANYTHING FROM ME WITHOUT COMPENSATION. **

Naruto furrowed his brow, what could the fox be planning? "What do you suggest I do then 'oh all mighty Kyuubi?" The sarcastic bite of his tone and insulting flourish caused another clash against the cage, one dozens of times more powerful than the last.

Angry thoughts swam through the giants head vigorously, aching to be expressed in astral-physical means. **_(PATHETIC HUMAN, WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE I'LL CHEW YOU THE SLOWEST OUT OF ALL THESE FINK-RATS IN THIS CESSPOOL OF A WORLD)_** Calmed by his own thoughts picturing the death of the blonde's demise, Kyuubi snorted in contempt. **WELL BRAT, I'LL LET YOU DECIDE. WHAT DO YOU THINK MY POWER IS WORTH?**

Naruto was dumb-founded in surprise, his initial shock was easily noticed by the fox, but it had slowly ebbed away until it was nothing more but intense contemplation. The fox himself was surprised at this, he was expecting the young child to react in some type of flamboyant mannerism suited to his nature; but reacted little more than a stone would. He of course did not let his own astonishment manifest in front of the yellow-haired imp. He was already losing air to the moron's ego as it was, he would suffocate if he would ever learned that he had amazed the all-powerful Kyuubi no Yoko by being himself.

Naruto was thinking hard about this opportunity presented to him, and was now wishing to thousand different gods that he could have a mind like Shikamaru's, but he didn't, so he would have to deal with it. Hmm…what could he do? The fox wouldn't settle for anything minimal, he had to give him something grand…but what could he give that wouldn't end up ending the entire damn world?

-Sigh- _(This is hard…What the hell?!)_ The sewers had suddenly begun to rumble horribly, small pebbles of stone fell out of the wedges in the walls and ceilings and the dirty water below him rippled at the shaking.

**INTERESTING…THE WEAKLINGS OUTSIDE MAY ACTUALLY SHOW SOME STRENGTH…IT IS NOT SO SIMPLE TO OVERCOME ONE OF MY DEFENSES…EVEN IF IT IS ONE OF MY WEAKER ONES…NO MATTER, THERE IS STILL MORE TO BE BROKEN THROUGH; AND EACH ONE IS HARDER THAN THE LAST **

Naruto hardly acknowledge what the fox was talking about, but he understood that he had plenty of time. It was strange, maybe if it was anyone else in the world they could think up an answer in a heartbeat, but for him…Naruto guessed he wasn't made to make such choices, maybe it was stupid to think he could be Hokage after all…

Wait…Hokage…he always heard lectures from everyone around him that the purpose of being Hokage was to protect others in their greatest time of need, it was then that they would use everything in their power to defend their loved ones. The third had made an example of this during the Sand-Sound invasion, but he did it with a price…his life. He did win at the end, dealing a huge blow to that damn bastard Orochimaru, but it was all in vain considering and Ero-sennin learned that he could use his hands again.

He would do something like the old-man, a literal deal with the devil, or at least…a demon. He would give something that just may cost him his life.

"A favor"

The Kyuubi turned his attention back to Naruto, it was about time the maggot said something. **WHAT DID YOU SAY GAKI? **

Naruto raised his head to stare at the Kyuubi in the eye. "For every time I borrow more than half of your power, I will grant you a favor, or wish if you prefer."

**INTERESTING**, rumbled Kyuubi**. AND WHAT ARE THE TERMS OF THIS FAVOR? I DOUBT YOU WOULD LET ME FREE IF I ASKED FOR IT**…

Naruto nodded. "You guessed right stupid fox…there are only two things you can't ask for: Freedom, and the death of any innocent lives. Got it?"

A snarl was Naruto's immediate response, but faded out into another low grumble, the Kyuubi knew he had no leverage in the situation…save for the key for the two's survival…but he wanted to live just as much as the blonde did, if not more so.

**IT'S A DEAL KIT.** growled the Kyuubi before flooding the entire sewer system with his blood-red chakra.

* * *

During the entire confrontation between the boy and the fox, the fanatic extremists were busy trying to destroy the strange spinning cocoon of chakra that had formed around it in the middle of the fight. It looked not unlike the famed Hyuuga Kaiten, but it was self-sustaining and spun at a much more rapid rate. They were able to destroy the first layer by slowing it down with chakra strings and blowing it apart with their most powerful jutsu, but it seemed all for naught as another more quickly spinning sphere was churning below it. Already tired from breaking the first defense, the collected ninja sprayed out a rainbow of colorful language at the demon within. But they persisted, with even more ferocity than before, their hatred fueling them with the energy they desperately needed. It had been awhile since the demon first sealed itself within, and they feared it would come out with even greater force than before if they did not win soon.

Their fears were confirmed when they saw a hideous creature emerge from the strange spinning cocoon-like shield.

The creature had an elongated face of fox, and two rabbit-like ears, its claws were bigger than its hands or feet, and its red fur spiked around its frame like an angry porcupine, all nine demonic fox tails look like living whips made of barbed wire. But the most horrific feature was its eyes; they were solid black, as if the pupil had grown over the entire sphere.

One unfortunate fool made the decision of staring straight into those bottomless eyes; the result was falling into a genjutsu so bad that he took his own life to escape it.

The rest of the ninja were a bit apprehensive after that incident, but their morale was quickly restored when the ANBU leading them took charge.

Their morale was quickly re-destroyed when they saw the fox-beast grab their leader and toss him to the center of the town.

"Who's next?" Asked the beast.

The screams that followed would haunt the survivors to the grave.

* * *

Yamato was having a grand time.

He had just sold a huge amount of his stock for a great price, and bough the same quantity for dirt cheap across the very same village! In fact, it was most likely the same stock he had in the first place!

Yamato gave a huge prayer of thanks to the gods of commerce, if they hadn't _not_ given any merchant skills to these ninja, he wouldn't have made such a huge profit!

This was the only reason he walked calmly down the street with a huge smile on his face when the rest of the populace was running around in mass confusion.

Some elite ninja suddenly fell out of the sky, not that badly hurt, but had a visible limp on one of his legs. A few minutes later, an intimidating fox-beast demon-thing fell out of the sky too and landed right on top of the elite ninja.

Yamato picked up his money sack and headed to the nearest exit, he didn't want to be involved in ninja matters, he had a family to return to…and feed for several months with this huge haul of his.

So he bid farewell to the village that made him a wealthy, and safe, man.

* * *

Naruto was reveling in the surrounding chaos, he had subdued the other jounin at the Hokage memorial with a potentially fatal genjutsu, but then again, they were jounin, they should be able to handle it.

Hah! Yeah right.

He was now dealing with the ANBU member now; he had just landed upon him, and had given him a brutal beating while he was on the floor. Deciding to give the man some pity, he decided to end it with a ransengan to the face.

The blood that exploded from the body covered everyone in a thirty foot radius.

Feeling his duty was done; Naruto receded to his normal human state, and turned around.

When he did, he wished he didn't.

Everyone was staring at him, and when he meant everyone, he meant _everyone_. Naruto could pick up faces from the entire village that he knew, and some that were really high up in the chain of power. Tsunade herself was looking at Naruto in fear. But not fear _of_ him, fear _for_ him.

The same could not be said for everyone else.

When Naruto walked away from the body in any direction, the crowd he was facing took a few steps back. Complete and utter terror was evident in their eyes.

Naruto turned around to see three small children looking at him with eyes that held fear that he never saw before while they were centered on him. The Konohamaru Corps. Eyes were usually filled with admiration, envy, and pride. Now they were filled with fear, confusion, and question.

That was it for Naruto, seeing the three that he considered as younger sibling look at him like that was too much for him, he took off in some random direction by jumping over the crowd. His figure a mere speck by the time everyone gathered their wits and prepared themselves for a fight.

The village had a fox to hunt.

* * *

Miles away the same figure from before widened his smile. He had accomplished what he wanted to do in this place. It was now time for the second phase of the first part of his grand master plan.

* * *

Naruto ran; he ran as fast as he could, to be using the Fox's chakra to run away from his own village is humiliating, but the reason behind it is even more so...He was so foolish, he really was a total idiot. Hokage? Him! Naruto laughed and cried at the same time. Like they would really want _him_ as Hokage. Especially now more than ever, he really was a fool, he really was an idiot...

Suddenly, a branch snapped. Naruto cursed, he was sure he lost them back at the river; No regular villager should be able to keep up with him! Not even most of the shinobi of the entire village can! Unless, they had more ANBU with them...Which would not be surprise considering Tsunade had see him leave.

The ANBU were Naruto's most feared enemy inside Konoha, They are the best of the best, and the ones who hold the longest of grudges, as it was proved by the nameless ANBU he had killed not too long ago. They have the closest bonds with their squad mates, mostly because they have been in the same team since they were gennin. When Kyuubi came and killed off their friends and family, well let's just say that the Hokage's orders were never followed to the letter.

Naruto knew if these were really ANBU then he shouldn't even bother trying to run away, he will stay and fight, to the death if need be, it was his nindo (ninja way) after all...but maybe he could beat them, but the new contract won't kick in permanently until the next day, the previous fight had him absolutely drained, and he doubted he could muster up the energy to summon Kyuubi's power again.

Naruto shook himself out of thinking such thoughts, now he needed to prepare. Naruto laughed at his thought, since when was he ever one to think ahead? Never that's when! Either way, he gave himself a few seconds to prepare for battle; soon, Naruto was ready to fight for his life.

"Come on out, I already know you're there. We might as well start me kicking you're ass!" Naruto waited in apprehension, would they call his bluff? Of course they would. Would they try to kill him? There wasn't a single doubt in his mind that they wouldn't. Did they know how determined he was to beat them and live? No one did, except for maybe the three sannin and Iruka of course

The tension in the air was suddenly cut off when Naruto heard a familiar scoff "Took you long enough dobe."(Dead-last)

Naruto's shock was evident, a blind man would have been able to see the surprise carved on his face. "N-Neji?" He shakily said, truly hoping it was not a Henge no jutsu (transformation technique), if it was, then he was screwed. He just left a huge opening for a possible attack.

Neji appeared just in front of Naruto. Neji stared at his shorter friend, he remained unchanged for the most part he wore clothes similar to what he wore as a gennin, except a few sizes larger for his added height. It was when he just brought his head back up when they both heard a chorus of other voices screaming the same phrase. "Don't forget us Naruto!"

One by one Naruto's friends appeared the rookie nine plus team Gai had appeared from the surrounding forest. Each having s different look etched upon their faces.

"How did you guys find me?" Although Naruto thought very highly of his friends, he knew he set up enough false detours to mislead any one of them. If he really want to get away from them, and he did, they should not have been able of find him.

It was Shikamaru who answered this time instead of Neji. "Che, between me, Sakura, Shino's bugs, Kobe's and Akamaru's noses, and two pairs of the Byakuugan, do you really think you could escape from our watch? Stop this troublesome running and follow us home, we could discuss what happened over some ramen at that place you like later."

"No"

The reaction was immediate, everybody froze at the word. Nobody, absolutely nobody, would ever expect Naruto to say 'No' to return to Konoha, but what really surprised them was his refusal to ramen. This must be very serious for Naruto to refuse his god-like worshiped food.

"What are you talking about Naruto you idiot! Of course you're coming with us! Stop being the annoying child you are and come on!" This was of course from Sakura. Who else but her to yell at Naruto like that?

Then Naruto said something that undermined all that they knew from the usually happy boy. In a tone so cold that it shook them all to the core.

"Shut up Sakura."

Naruto observed his friends; they were shaken, really shaken. The Naruto they knew was a happy-go-lucky idiot with a lot of power at his hand. But then again, the Naruto they knew did not have a demon sealed inside him; it was time he changed that...Naruto gave them a chance to collect themselves by giving them a moment. Once he was sure they were ready to continue he decided to make sure they don't come after him. He did the one thing that he knew for certain that would lead them to hate him, the one thing that separated him from all other shinobi, humans or living beings in general.

His definition as a jinchuuriki: He decided he would tell them about Kyuubi, and his role of being his host.

"Have you ever felt the pain of being absolutely and completely alone?" When he got no answer he continued. "I have, but you already know about that, especially you Hinata." Hinata 'eeped' blushed and hid behind Neji. Seeing their confused faces Naruto knew he better hurry with an explanation.

"Throughout the first twelve years of my life I had nothing to claim as my own. No father to look for support, no mother to hug, no sibling to console in, no relative of any kind for any purpose." He stopped momentarily to regain his own composure before continuing.

"I was completely alone, it was only my own imagination and the third himself that saved me from insanity. Even Iruka ignored me" At this many eyes widened, true Iruka didn't have a very active friendship with Naruto until his graduation, but they never knew him to be so cruel as to ignore a child of any age.

"I had always wondered why everyone hated me, that is until graduation. It was only until then that I finally learned the reason for all the hate, all the malice and spite directed towards me. It was actually related to the fourth, a person I both love and hate." This statement confused many of the shinobi present. Naruto idolized all the Hokages, especially the fourth! Hearing him say he hates him is equivalent to Kakashi saying he doesn't like his smutty books!

Naruto sensed his pursuers closing on him; it would only be moment before they fell upon them, and so he decided to end it quickly. "I love the fourth because he was my inspiration to become Hokage, to sacrifice yourself to save a place so dear to him is beyond amazing in my eyes. But I also hate the man, because he stole equality from me, he made my life a living hell from the day I was born. I have suffered so much because of that man."

NOW everybody was confused, why did Naruto hate the fourth so much? More importantly, what did he _do_ to make Naruto hate him so much? Luckily for them Naruto answered them as quickly as the question formed in their heads. "Kyuubi no Yoko, the nine-tailed fox demon attacked our home the day I was born, and it was a powerful demon, too powerful to be defeated by any shinobi hands...even the fourth. The fourth knew this and decided to sacrifice his life for Konoha by defeating the fox with the next best thing, he sealed it. The fourth sealed the most powerful demon in existence into a little child using the combination of the Shiki fuujin (Dead Demon Consuming Seal), Hakke no Fuuin Shiki, (Eight Trigrams Sealing Style) and the Shisho Fuuin (Four Symbols Seal)..."

Neji, Shikamaru, Sakura, and Hinata visibly showed their understanding shock, Naruto knew they were the sharpest of the group. Even though Hinata doesn't have the kind of mind of the previous three, she knew him the most, even more that Iruka. Shino must know too, but as usual he has that never moving face of his in place, but more than likely, his choice of clothing concealed his emotions. Naruto was sure they hated him now, so he decided to tell the rest what was going on.

"That baby was me, I am a jinchuuriki (demon host; literally translated to 'the power of human sacrifice') I hold the Kyuubi's power within me. That is why I was hated, that is why I must leave." The rest of the group jumped him, hoping to keep him still to hear their words before it's too late. But none of them knew of Naruto's newest jutsu that he had learned from his sensei Jiraiya, the Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying thunder god technique).

In a Yellow flash Naruto was gone, via his newest technique, the technique that was the Yondaime's legacy. No one present knew just what the hell happened, if they just saw what they think they just saw, then for all they knew, Naruto was probably in Earth country by now.

* * *

Naruto himself was not in Earth country, but he was heading to an old friend. With the help of his new jutsu that he perfected with the help of the Kyuubi, he was traveling at super-sonic speeds. But he was wearing thin in energy, this jutsu has not been used frequently and it's beating down on his body with vengeance, the evidence starting to show on him. Naruto was starting to regret leaving Konoha now, and his reluctance to leave reminded him of a song he heard while traveling with Ero-sennin (Jiraiya).

_Last night it came as a picture,  
with a good reason, a warning sign.  
This place is void of all passion,  
if you can imagine it's easy if you try.  
Believe me I failed this effort.  
I wrote a reminder this wasn't a vision,  
this time where are you _ _Houston__?  
Is somebody out there, will somebody listen? _

Naruto remembers the pain he went through as a child, alone and terrified, hated by everyone around him for reasons he couldn't fathom.

_Should I go back, should I go back, should I?  
I feel alone and tired!  
Should I go back, should I go back, should I?  
I hope I won't forget you! _

Naruto remembers his past sensei's and mentors, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Jiraiya Ero-sennin, even Tsunade Obaa-chan, he'll miss them all, and their freaky habits.

_My head is made up of memories,  
most of them useless delusions.  
This room is bored of rehearsal,  
and sick of the boundaries,  
I miss you so much. _

Naruto remembers the lonely nights in his apartment, the painful coldness of solitude and the yearning of the warmth that only a loving family could bring.

_Should I go back, should I go back, should I?  
I feel alone and tired.  
Should I go back, should I go back, should I?  
This time I don't want to.  
Should I go back, should I go back, should I?  
I feel alone and tired.  
Should I go back, should I go back, should I?  
I hope I won't forget you! _

Naruto remembers the rookie nine: Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Sakura, Sasuke, and himself. He remembers team Gai: Lee, Tenten, Neji, and the Sand Siblings: Gaara Temari, Kankouro.

_Should I go back, should I go back, should I  
I feel alone and tired  
should I go back, should I go back, should I  
this time I don't want to  
should I go back, should I go back, should I  
I feel alone and tired  
should I go back, should I go back, should I  
I hope I won't forget you _

Naruto steeled his resolve, he would go trough with his plan. And he will become Hokage, the road he has chosen would most likely be very dangerous, but then again, his entire existence has been dangerous. What's a little more danger going to add up to?

* * *

Meanwhile in a small village just south of Sunagakure ( Hidden Sand Village), a red headed boy appeared out of the sand. Planning to meet one similar to him, a brother of sorts. But not now, right now he needed to rest, he would go tomorrow, Naruto was probably not home yet anyway...

* * *

Rai finished dramatically with the Rock family patented nice guy pose. The children awed as their families or guardian picked them up for another night of sleep.

The visitor followed Rai to the lodge, intent in getting some sleep for the night; after all he had to face another chapter tomorrow.

* * *


	3. Chapter 2: A New Dream

**It sucks not to own Naruto, I should know I don't got it. Maybe ifI won the lottery I could buy it, that would be awesome...If you would excuse me I have to go hire some ninja to infiltrate the lottery building for me...**

_**Chapter 1: The New Dream! Yoinokuchi Founded!**_

A new day meant new possibilities, but for two men and a group of children, it meant another chapter was about to be revealed. The stranger sat slightly uncomfortable amongst the children, who we focusing on Rai as if the very meaning of life was about to be exposed. Rai chuckled at the mild torment the new guy was feeling, it was obvious to see that he was not used to children under any circumstances, it must have been strange to be surrounded by something you don't feel fully confident about.

Disregarding such thoughts from his head Rai began to re-tell the tale.

* * *

Gaara watched as the boy he thought of as family walk away to his home in the leaves. Gaara felt a bit awkward about having a friend; or brother in his case. He did not fully comprehend the full meaning of affection, or any kind of 'positive' emotion, and he doubts he ever will. It was only up until three years ago that his own village decided to recognize him as a person, and not as a failed experiment. When he was unable to see the blonde anymore he started to quietly stalk to his home, intending to record all of his remaining abilities and finish the annoying paperwork he should have completed three days ago.

"Sister, brother, let us return to our home, we have a lot of work ahead of us tomorrow."

Gaara got grunts of reply from both of his siblings as they ventured back into their domain.

* * *

That night, Gaara was doing what he did ever night, he stared at the moon. The mystical ball in the sky was the emotional equivalent of a nightlight to him, it was a sign that everything changed overtime. It has changed every once in a while just like him, seeing as he had changed in almost ever way since the attack against the village of leaves.

Gaara no longer felt spite to his fellow ninja, he no longer held the desire to see blood spilled by his own hands, and no longer coveted the idea to see the absolute terror he earned of being a demon vessel. And everything was thanks to another exactly like him; Naruto plays an enormous part of his life, whether he realizes it or not. The loud shinobi was someone that Gaara desired to be, minus the foolish persona and ear-splitting voice box.

Naruto was always ready to take any challenge, and beat it at any cost…as long as it protected his precious people. He took his loyalties seriously, it was almost his very reason of existence, one so much different from the one Gaara himself had first found. While Gaara at first only lived to kill everyone and everything besides himself, Naruto wanted to protect everyone and everything…except himself. Gaara did not understand how those ideals had given him the strength to defeat him in the Sand-sound invasion…but it did, and Gaara was forever indebted to him for that.

Gaara chuckled at the thought, Naruto could probably change the goals of Akatsuki itself if given a chance; but then again, they had just eliminated two of their members: Deidara and Sasori of the Red Sands, so he doubts that they would accept his application. Speaking of Sasori, they had found some interesting things on his person.

The first was the body of the Sandaime, which would be repaired and given a proper funeral tomorrow morning. The next was the one-hundred puppets he used to fight Chiyo-baa-sama and Haruno-san; every single body would be identified, searched for secrets, be completely destroyed unless if they were Suna and maybe Konoha by origin. The final, and what could be the most important thing, would be a scroll of forbidden and powerful jutsu that Sasori had researched and created in his time of exile; such an item was not taken lightly and is now sealed up heavily in his own office...

Hopefully, no one but those who came to his rescue would know of the scroll, but it is very difficult of hide secrets in a village full of ninja.

* * *

The next day was of little consequence, Gaara was mostly contained to his bed for hours at a time mostly sue to his sister's constant complaints. He was able to test his limits on his sand somewhat…he was still able to manipulate as easily as he could before, but he had little chakra to work with so he did not know if he could manipulate it at a much grander scale; so he finally decided to follow his sister's advice and rest to regain his chakra. After the first night's rest he had fallen asleep for nearly two days, his former case of insomnia added up with the extreme exhaustion of having his biju extracted had finally caught up to him…but it gave some very interesting results.

His senses had shot up nearly a dozens fold; his m ind was so clear it was almost haunting to have it so quiet…but it was just as equally welcoming. His clear mind had let him do his paperwork as the leader of his village ion nearly a quarter of the time it was usually done and he seemed to understand things as soon as one explained it to him.

But what had caught his interest the most was how much his chakra control superceded his old level by a staggering amount. He had no reason for this and decided to consult in his siblings and Baki. All three agreed it was disappearance of Shukaku.

Chakra, explained Temari, was a combination of spiritual energy; which was created from physical strength in the body, and mental energy; which was created in the mind. Since his body was completely rested for the first time in years it had led it to be repaired on a level it couldn't before, causing his chakra to become more flexible and powerful. Additionally, his mind has been focused to laser-like precision and efficiency; allowing him to control his chakra on par with some of the more talented medic-nin known to shinobi kind.

Although he lacked the previous level of power granted to him by Shukaku, Gaara now had the tools to create jutsu even more powerful than before.

It was not long until Gaara decided to visit the desert alone to make an entire armory of jutsu for his disposal.

* * *

It was now the fourth day after his capture from the hands from Akatsuki.

He had received a messenger hawk earlier that day describing that team seven had arrived safely at home and were now enjoying a well-deserved rest. That was the first bit of good news he had that day.

It was also the last.

Soon after the hawk had come and gone, Gaara was assaulted by a mountain of paperwork whose sheer size matched the home of the Olympian gods. While the amount of effort to complete the task was minimal, the arduous amount of work took the better part of his once-promising morning.

The next wave bad news came in the form of the council, both villager and shinobi alike. They needed to speak about the recent events that had transpired with the Akatsuki and what would be their next move alongside Konoha. The inflamed arguments and zealous tumult had only been silenced by a display of Gaara's new power.

Iron Sand

It had shocked everyone present at the meeting; including his siblings and Baki, he hadn't told anyone that he had found out about his new ability while out training in the desert.

It started out as simple curiosity, he had wondered if the removing of Shukaku had any major impact on his chakra nature. He knew from the terrible whispers of the great beast and research from Temari's own drive that he was born with two chakra elements: Wind and Earth; which would make sand when combined with his genetic code.

He knew he could still control sand, meaning he still had both elements, but Gaara felt an overwhelming sense of curiosity that it threatened to consume him.

Using the chakra-nature identification cards, the results Gaara found were nothing short of astounding; instead of splitting in half to indicate wind or turning to dust for Earth, the innocent piece of white paper crumpled as if an angry writer had taken out its frustration on it.

He now had a third element; electricity.

* * *

In another part of the continent the odd stranger was whistling joyously, even if was a bit disturbingly similar to a song that was supposed to be erased from history. He had taken a lot of effort into ameliorating the red-heads molecular, anatomical, _and_ physiological substructures and exterminating all physical inhibitions from his body caused by Shukaku, and decided to calm himself with a soothing Italian tune. 

Okay so it wasn't Italian, just Italy-styled but it was still good! Hmm… there is nothing more relaxing the soothing sounds of _The Godfather™…_

* * *

The discovery raised many questions among the red-haired Kazekage, but he knew it was for a different time. When he had displayed the ability during the meeting the room had erupted in pandemonium rivaling that of Krakatoa. Somewhere in the mass chaos Gaara felt a trace of malice spike for only a second before hiding itself under the maelstrom of confusion and curiosity that was rapidly filling the room.

Gaara had brought order back into the council and all settled upon the idea that it was a mutation brought about the sealing methods of Akatsuki or most likely the forced absence of Shukaku.

Gaara decided that he would have to take up his insomniac ways one more night as the foreboding shiver down his spine warned him of a coming danger in the not-so-distant future.

* * *

The sandy gong of Sunagakure's Shinto Shrine rang loudly 12 times in the distance. The moon up high had long ago cast its dark blanket around their village and most of its inhabitants were already asleep. 

One person still stood in his office, watching the moon with a personal fascination that had grasped him since he was but a newborn. The sense of danger had still not left him…it lingered on hours after the meeting with the councilors, and only grew stronger as the sun hid itself behind the dunes and the moon rose in its place. The feeling of anxiety was only multiplied when nothing happened, Gaara knew his instincts were dead on about something going on tonight…but as for what, well that was the million dollar question.

Gaara yawned, a concept that was extremely rare for him. He had endured not sleeping for months at a time because of Shukaku's curse, and did not so much as bat an aye during those times, courtesy of Shukaku's demented chakra. Furthermore his vision should have deteriorated beyond all measure because of the unbearable strain put upon them, but were constantly repaired and maintained by the said beast. Now that he looked back on it, Shukaku had taken innumerable measures to make sure his body was in prime condition 24/7, and protecting it as much as it could with its power.

The same could not be said for his mentality.

Gaara almost shivered as he thought of his former self; emotionless, blood-thirsty, anguished, insane…

A hissing noise was the only the warning Gaara had before an explosion was set off in his office.

A figure rushed in the room, it rustled around for a moment before letting out a small gasp of triumph before rushing out. He prepared several exploding kunai and shuriken before hand and threw them into the still subsiding dust cloud and waited them to detonate before rushing out in full speed. He had seen the battle between the Kazekage and Deidara in the sky and come to the right conclusion that explosions were the best offensive against such a powerful opponent.

Even though he knew the info he was still ensnared up to his thighs in a large arm made of sand and pulled back the Hokage building violently.

The ninja twisted his body so the giant scrolls already on his back before the fight would not be damaged and felt the full force of the slam crush onto his right arm. He had no time to recover as the sand quickly began to entrap his entire body. Using great efficiency worthy of his skill, he pulled one of the four giant scrolls on his back and opened it to reveal the patterns and seals necessary to seal away medium-to-large inanimate objects. The ninja bit his finger rapidly and spread the blood from the small wound over a third of the scroll, summoning one of three parts of the set hidden within.

_(Kugutsu Kuchiyose No Jutsu!)_ –Puppet summoning technique-

The summoned puppet was nothing special, at least that what it looked like on the outside. It was the standard faceless/hairless puppet sold in shinobi supply depots. It had double jointed appendages with no extensions and detachable main body parts with secret compartments here and there. It was so well maintained that it seemed fresh out of the store.

But Gaara knew better.

The puppet had the puppeteers trade-mark tattered cloth wrapped around it, and this puppeteer's cloth was faded and torn with age and use. Clearly this was a ninja with experience…

And he chose that puppet for a reason.

Gaara willed his sand to float freely about the area, but kept it close together. He would need it to be so to react quickly enough so he would be able to defeat this nuisance.

"I thought that some lunatic like you would come at a later time, but it would seem I was incorrect. I must admit that you must have exceptional skill to bypass the ANBU elites I had placed around this building. Tell me, who are you?"

The figure said nothing as he held the scroll close to his person and had its puppet shift its stance ever so slightly that Gaara almost missed it, all but his eyes were hidden in his regulation Sand shinobi equipment, and it was easy to see that the eyes of the figure were incomplete somehow. Those eyes had either lost something or someone close to them, or it was never there in the first place. Suddenly the puppet rocketed from the floor into the sky and opened up every secret compartment it hand. The figure did a pulling motion with his hand and the puppet exploded in a bright flash, leaving countless pieces of paper floating in the air.

Gaara tried to send his sand to those papers, hoping that they were not what they were…if those things were explosion notes…he preferred not to think of the repercussions.

But he had nothing to worry seeing as the notes only went out with a light pop after the sand had gone through them or when a set amount of time elapsed. Gaara at first thought they were mere distractions and quickly put his attention back to the enemy and was strangely surprised to see he was still standing at the same spot. He was starting to wonder what the hell was going on until he felt his eyelids getting heavy.

_(Genjutsu!)_ Realized Gaara as he brought his hands up quickly to break the illusion.

"Kai!"

Instantly the once unseen bird feathers of the Nehan Shoja no Jutsu ( Temple of Nirvana technique) faded out of existence around a large radius from Gaara. Those in the immediate area around him were spared of the underhanded trick. But the same could not be said for the rest of the village.

_(So my 'Secret Blue technique: Suicide Illusion Bombing' was a relative success, shame the Kazekage did not fall for it either…but I guess he did not earn that position for nothing.)_ The intruder was so engrossed in his thought that he only caught the very last bit of Gaara's statement that he had been making for the last few moments. _(Eh, its not I really care what he had to say, he's going to die soon anyway…)_

"If you shall not speak, then I must kill you. As the Kazekage of the sand I shall retrieve that scroll with whatever means possible." Without another word said between them, Gaara sent his sand flying to his opponent, who then said something that chilled him to the bone.

"You are not our leader anymore."

The sand started to move frantically, as if alive, and began to return to Gaara's gourd. Gaara paid no attention to it, focusing on the conversation at hand. "What do you mean I am not your leader? By what right do you say these words?"

"By the right of Sunagakure" Chorused around him.

Gaara whipped his head around, and saw what seemed to be a third of his entire shinobi force surrounding him. All of them where either falling into stance, forming hand seals for jutsu, or where in the process of summoning their weapons and puppets.

"You know that I can easily take out all of you with sand correct? Or have you failed to realize that we live in the desert? This entire country is a weapon to me."

The one who seemed to be the leader spoke up once more; as the figure was talking it began to remove its mask to reveal itself.

"That may be true demon, but there are some things that even a jinchuuriki like you cannot destroy."

Gaara's eyes widened in shock as he realized who the person was, his name was Yoshi Watanabe, and he was the second most powerful shinobi in all of the hidden sand besides himself. He was mostly known as the head of the puppet division of the sand, he was Kankouro's mentor and to an extent, Temari's as well.

"So Yoshi, what do you plan to do?" asked Gaara.

Yoshi chuckled at the straight-forward question, a typical Gaara action. "I? Nothing, but your siblings however..."

Unseen to Gaara, Yoshi wiggled his fingers, pulling a struggling Temari and Kankouro into view.

Gaara tensed as he noticed his sibling struggle. "What have you done to Temari and Kankouro?"

"Heh, Heh, Heh, you're not so tough now neh Godaime? Don't you want to fight you're siblings? Well that can be arranged after all; even the infamous 'Sand Siblings' cannot ignore a command from their new Rokudaime Kazekage"

Gaara paled as he saw what was happening; the so-called Rokudaime of the Sand had used his puppet strings on his siblings, and was planning to use them as puppets to attack him. They were the perfect weapon against Gaara, and he knew it.

Gaara scowled, in utter frustration as the Puppeteer-Kazekage combined his sister's tornado attacks and his brother's poison gas bombs from his own puppets into a one deadly poison whirlwind of death. Not stopping there, Kakouro used his own puppet to send out a wave of shuriken at him with the wind.

Gaara raised a thick barrier of sand to block the attack, and created a small platform to him to ride on, he may not be able to fight now, but he can fall back and strike at another time.

Gaara's thoughts were cut off as he felt wind on his back, and he cursed for his own stupidity. He was up in the air, and that was Temari's strongest forte, she would be able to slice him into pieces from where he was at.

Dispelling his sand so he could fall freely, Gaara dropped until he reached the floor, using his sand as a cushion to keep himself safe. At least he had an advantage now, the streets were filled with sand, and as he is who he is, no one could beat him here.

Gaara waited patiently for his quickly arriving siblings and enemy, and noticed a noise that was growing by the minute. They were steps…a lot of steps, but they were not steps of people; they were of something else...

_(Puppets!)_ Gaara realized, he melted himself into the floor, but kept an eye out on one of the street corners to see what was happening.

A minute had not even passed after Gaara hid when an army of puppets charged through the street he was in. They were either carrying their puppeteers on their backs, or they were jumping from rooftop to rooftop with their owners' right behind them.

Gaara counted somewhere about fifty puppets, of all kinds. He saw siege puppets, beast puppets, assassin puppets, aerial puppets; even the occasional capture puppets were present. They had all come to hunt him, and one of the assassin puppets had spotted his eye.

"He's here! Prepare for battle and call for reinforcements!"

Gaara jumped out of the floor and looked upon his enemies, before any of them could ready an attack, Gaara prepared his latest attack.

"Desert Genocide" Muttered Gaara.

Instantly, hundred of desert coffins consumed the entirety of the wooden puppet attackers, with a clenching hand motion, all of the coffins imploded and destroyed whatever was inside of them.

The remaining puppeteers fell back and hid, powerless without their walking weapons.

Gaara looked towards the main gate, it was only a few blocks away, and he could make it if he ran.

Gaara felt the presence of wind behind his back again, and hurriedly summoned another wall of sand behind him.

Gaara cursed as his controlled siblings sent out a huge tornado of poison gas and shuriken at him. His Suna no Tate (shield of sand) could easily protect him, but since Shukaku no longer resided in him, the technique required chakra, something he is running out of. Gaara landed heavily on the ground and formed a perfect sphere of sand to protect him, the barrage of attacks his siblings were launching at him would eventually eat away hiss shield…but he needs to think up a strategy before doing anything else. He could not afford to do any jutsu otherwise it would take down his shield and leave him directly open for attack…escape was possible but he needed time to gather a large amount of chakra to run away at a great distance so he would have time to rest.

Gaara sighed, he made a life promise never to hurt his siblings ever again under any circumstances, in this situation he was nearly powerless, and would surely die if something, anything, didn't happen soon.

The sand was moving on its own once again and this time it was accompanied by a massive wave of mental anguish. Gaara gripped his head at the feeling, his head felt like it was spinning in a flame, there seemed to be no rest for such pain and it was beginning to tear him apart. The Seal on his head glowed red before transitioning to a golden brown color…the color of sand. Tiny grains of the substance were first trickling out like drops from a leaking faucet; until a mental dam burst within Gaara's mind and sand with the distinct metallic odor of blood surged outwards. During the entire spectacle Gaara heard an all to familiar roar of insane laughter that was all too familiar with him.

_(I-It c-cant be! It just can't be!)_ Gaara almost began to weep in despair, he prayed to anything that was willing to listen to let him be wrong…he begged to be wrong. It would break him if he was right!

The horrid laughing began to die down until it was nothing more than a sick chuckle. **DID YOU MISS ME GAKI?**

_(S-Sh-SHUKAKU! How! I thought Akatsuki got you!)_

**THAT'S ** **A GREAT WAY**** TO GREET YOU'RE OLD FRIEND MEAT, NO WONDER YOU HAVE NO SOCIAL SKILLS.**

_(Do not play with me now demon! How the hell were you able to return! Answer me damn it!)_

**INSOLENT MORTAL! YOU DARE ORDER THE GREAT SHUKAKU LIKE A MERE SERVANT! AFTER I JUST SAVE YOU PATHETIC ASS FROM BEING KILLED FROM YOUR OWN BLOOD! PAY ME THE RESPECTI DESERVE NOW YOU CAD!**

_(I'll never pay, loan, or even throw away gratitude to you stupid sand box! Now tell me why you are here and not with the Akatsuki.)_

Shukaku muttered angrily about ungrateful vessels and ripping out the fleshy balls in between a certain red-heads legs before reluctantly telling Gaara of what he knew.

**TRUTHFULLY BRAT, I DO NOT KNOW, ONE MINUTE I WAS BEING TRANSFERRED INTO ANOTHER BODY, THE NEXT, I'M BACK HERE. IT'S EITHER A FRIGGIN MIRACLE I'M HERE OR ANOTHER CURSE.**

_(Trust me, it's a curse.)_ Relayed Gaara as the shield suffered another poison tornado. _(Can you keep up the barrier? I am starting to tire and I'm sure you do not want to perish so quickly after we have rejoined.) _

The demon said nothing but complied nonetheless, he did not like a brat who was too perceptive for his own good, he ate people like that.

_(I must find a way to escape, but the only way through is to beat my siblings...uh, I wish I had killed all those ignorant villagers when I was still insane...No! I have changed; I have no more thoughts like that anymore. I must think of ways to calm myself...)_

**KILL THEM ALL AND FEEL THE BLOOD OF YOUR ENEMIES IN YOUR HANDS AND FEET. LAUGH IN TRIUMPH AT THEIR SUFFERING AS YOU SEND THEIR WORTHLESS SOULS TO THE SHINIGAMI (DEATH GOD) HIMSELF! **

_(Shut the hell up demon! I don't need you to corrupt what little private thoughts I have!) _Typical, only when Gaara is in a life-threatening situation does Shukaku show his worthless hide to annoy him...Doesn't he know that it only puts his own life in danger too?

**HAHAHA! YOUR INSULTS ARE GETTING BETTER GAKI (BRAT)! BESIDES YOU SHOULD BE HAPPY THAT SOMEONE IS WILLING TO LISTEN TO YOU RANT LIKE A CHILD! JUST KILL THEM ALL YOU DON'T NEED THEM!**

Shukaku knew the risk of distracting the boy during a fight, but that didn't stop him from annoying Gaara to no end. After all, if he ever did get into too much trouble Gaara would have no choice but to let him out.

_(I do not value anything that comes from you, you worthless pile of fur. If need be I will get my ally Uzumaki to silence you)_ Gaara never understood the point of these little verbal bouts, but was always wary of what the demon tanuki (badger) said.

**KUKUKU...YOU REALLY ARE BECOMING A DEMON JUST LIKE MYSELF AND THE UZUMAKI-TEME.**

The battle was getting too rough for his liking, and Gaara was not loosing resolve like he used to, better leave now and unbalance the gaki later. For now, he'll just piss him off.

_(What are you talking about demon? Why do you bring up Uzumaki? Speak now hairball!) _

**NO, IF YOU WANT TO KNOW SO BADLY THEN FIND OUT YOURSELF **

_(Shukaku! Shukaku! Get back here and face me like the demon you are! Damn you demon!)_ Great, the only time he wants the stupid badger to talk, he leaves! The damn fur-ball leaves him in the middle of an important conversation. Oh well, he'll talk to him later. For now he must flee, and there is only one effective way to do that.

Using his regained mastery of sand Gaara expanded his Suna no Tate in order to push away his loved siblings. Surprised, but at the same time happy that Gaara was able to find a way to escape, Temari and Kankouro resisted any command for a defense as the sand made contact with them, sailing them into the nearest wall full-force and knocking them out completely.

Once Gaara made sure his brother and sister were officially out of the chase, Gaara used his variation of the shun shin no jutsu(body-flicker technique) to disappear in a flurry of sand. He was out of the village in moments and landed in some secluded location miles away from his home.

He arrived in the small village named Roken.

* * *

Minutes later Gaara had entered the village, Naruto had appeared in a bright yellow flash, he looked around to see where he was at and saw a village not too far away from him. He remembered this village when he was traveling with Ero-sennin; it was the half-way point between Sand and Leaf, and a vital trading spot. But the real reason he remembered this location was the exotic ramen flavors they had here. Naruto licked his lips at the thought of tasting lime and green chile ramen again...it had been to long.

Naruto entered and found the hotel he had stayed at before; he had left a good impression the last time he visited, so he was sure he would be getting cheap. He decided to spend the night there and wait to morning to see Gaara, he was probably busy anyway. Before Naruto entered the village he made sure he was under a henge no jutsu (transformation technique) to disguise himself. Better safe than sorry after all, he didn't want to leave any leads for any hunter ninja. Naruto shivered, those hunter-nin can be pretty scary at times.

It was only until after he got his room for the night did he feel a strange presence in the village. It was not those regular feelings that you get just by being followed; or the ones when you know something was going to happen. No, this was the feeling you got when someone or something powerful was searching, hunting, for their desired prize. With you hoping that the prize wasn't you. Naruto subtly looked at his surroundings, looking for anyone or anything that may stand out.

_(Villagers there, some random stand here, a shadowy stalker with something really big on his back... ooh! Lime and Green _ _Chile__ Ramen half off! Kami must love me!) _

Forgetting about the stalker with a possible weapon of mass destruction on his back, Naruto rocketed inside the ramen restaurant intending to spend all the money he saved up for the past three years as a ninja right then there. The stranger was clearly impressed on how the boy was able to detect him this quickly, he had only found the boy himself, but that was only until the boy completely ignored him and brushed him off over some spiced boiled noodles.

With a tired sigh the stranger dropped from roof he was on and went to the restaurant Naruto entered. Imagine his surprise when the Naruto was able to easily pass through his defenses and press a kunai to his neck.

"Who are you and what do you want stranger?"

The strange man suddenly smirked "You're one to talk about strange Uzumaki, my friend"

Now Naruto's interest was peaked, he had a guess who this man was and his voiced confirmed it. " Ga-" he started to say, but he noticed that Gaara was under a henge. Gaara made a couple signals by nodding and shaking his head, Naruto decided to play along. "I mean Tanuki?"

Gaara sweat dropped at the choice of alias but still nodded just the same. "Hai (yes / affirmative)"

Naruto brought the kunai back into his pocket and led Gaara outside into a dark alley. **(All perverted fan girls that think Naruto is going to rock Gaara's world should just exit the site now, for I will never on my tiny mortal life ever write the parasitic epidemic that is known as Yaoi…its just wrong, so very wrong…)** "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at you're office doing paper work or something?"

"Not here, do you have a place to stay for the night?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Good, I'll tell you there."

"Very well"

And that's what Gaara did, he explained to Naruto that since he was captured and almost killed, the Sand had denounced him as a leader and had ran him out of the village using his own brother and sister. Naruto visibly shook in absolute rage at this, threatening to let his hatred control him. But when Gaara asked why Naruto was there, he stopped. His eyes lost focus and glazed over, his mouth snapped shut, and he stilled to the point of looking like the dead themselves.

"I was sure they would accept me after that mission Gaara, I was absolutely sure that they wouldn't look at me with hatred anymore. Damn! I was such and idiot! My secret was finally known to the world Gaara, and everyone hated me after seeing it. When I saw the children who looked up to me narrow their eyes in hatred at me, my hope broke. I was finally done Gaara, I just couldn't take anymore, I just left."

"Secret?" Asked Gaara.

Naruto stared at Gaara with a pair of almost defeated looking eyes. "That's right huh? I never did tell you. Gaara, you are not alone in your burden to cage a tailed beast. I am the container of Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox demon. That is why Akatsuki is after me too."

Gaara couldn't believe his ears, Naruto gave up? Impossible! No one could break his resolve! No one! What of his friends? Did they abandon him too? But the demon...So this was what Shukaku meant, he had someone who understood his pain this entire time and he never knew it. But the look in his friend's eyes, it wasn't just the work of the single ANBU he had told him about...

**EXACTLY GAKI, NO _ONE. _AN ** **ENTIRE** **VILLAGE**** IS NOT JUST ONE PERSON, IT'S AN ENTIRE GROUP OF SHIT-PUMPED FINK-RATS! YOU SHOULD KNOW WHY HE HURTS SO MUCH HEH, HEH, HEH; BUT STILL…IT TAKES A LOT TO BEAT ANYTHING RELATED TO THE KYUUBI, IT SEEMS EVEN THE GREATEST OF THE BIJU (TAILED BEASTS) CAN FALL, YOU SHOULD DO WELL TO REMEMBER THAT. **

_(But, this is Uzumaki! He had survived twelve years suffering under that pathetic shit-hole he called a home. And now he decides to give up? That just doesn't add up! But...I guess he has a valid point, I cannot relate since all feared me even since I was an infant. Besides, Naruto had worked hard to gain his attention, but if what he told me truly happened, then I guess I could say no more.)_

**EVEN THE GREATESTOF WARRIORS HAVE A KINK IN THEIR ARMOR GAKI, INCLUDING DEMONS. MAYBE YOU CAN BEAT THE FUNK OUT OF HIM UNTIL HE RETURNS TO HIS ORIGINAL IDIOCY?**

_(You idiot, he won't talk to us if we threaten him, if anything he will just bury us in our own sand.) _

The demon tanuki just grumbled and faded away to his corner of Gaara's mind. He would come back when he wants to be annoying, but then again…he always is. For now Gaara will focus on Naruto. "What about you're dream to be Hokage, Uzumaki?"

Naruto scoffed and leered at Gaara with a uncomfortable aura around him. "That dream has died Gaara; it has befallen a terrible and bloody death. I have a new dream now, one that might interest you greatly, especially now that you have no title to flaunt around me anymore."

Gaara tried to raise an eyebrow, something that Naruto found just plain creepy, and somewhat amusing, as Gaara did not have any eyebrows. "What is it?"

Forgetting about the eyebrow thing, Naruto gave Gaara a serious look. "The other biju…or more specifically, their vessels."

Gaara nearly jumped in surprise, but was able to hold himself at the last moment. "What are you talking about Naruto?" Was it possible that there were more like them? The thought _almost_ made Gaara _think_ of acting excited.

"Think about Gaara, there are nine villages in total, not including the sound. All of them are at least two decades old. That means one village was at least five years old when Kyuubi attacked and was at least a year old when Shukaku appeared and was sealed in that teapot. There are also nine biju, your badger, a falcon, a tiger, a wolf, a shark, an ox, a dragon, an elephant, and my fox. Nine and nine, that means there is at least one biju per village. If we get to them before Akatsuki does, we may just prevent a major global disaster to the near future."

Gaara absorbed this information slowly, and analyzed it to his maximum potential. It made sense, well, except Naruto's math, Konoha was not the oldest ninja village and the demons were around well before any kind of village was ever created. The demons could be in any kind of village in any part of the other countries, but if they reach the biju before Akatsuki does, they would throw a very big wrench into their plans, whatever they may be. They can take him and Naruto alone, but can they take on every single biju combined? He didn't think so.

But one thing still bothered him.

"Why?"

The question surprised Naruto for a moment, but he quickly recovered. His answer came with that fox-like grin on his face.

"Come on Gaara you should see it by now!" Naruto suddenly became very sedate and looked out to the desert moon high among the stars. "To prove we are something Gaara, and not nothing. To prove to the entire world we are just not demons but people as well. To prove we are strong, in everyway possible." Naruto stood silent for a moment, and with renewed vigor said something that almost made Gaara decide to go with him. "To gain our own precious people that only we could understand"

Both jinchuuriki, were silent for a long time after that, Gaara silently weighing the pros and cons of such a journey; and Naruto awaiting his answer. After a few more minutes, Gaara gave a grin when he had come to a decision.

"What shall we call ourselves Naruto?"

Naruto smiled for what seemed the first time in a long time. Then again when has Naruto truly smiled when not around Iruka-sensei, Ero-sennin or Tsunade Obaa-chan (granny)?

_(Never) _Naruto thought, truly never had he smiled like he was now. But now was not the time to be sad, he had to think of a name right now.

"Hmm..." Naruto was in his concentrating/constipated face that made Gaara snicker to himself. Suddenly, without warning Naruto jumped and yelled like a kid on sugar high. "I know how about the 'Super-Cool-Demon-Retrieving-Demon-Vessel-Squad' or SCDRDVS for short. What do you think of that Gaara?"

"It sucks ass" Gaara calmly stated. The blunt and monotonous tone of Gaara's voice caused Naruto to drop his head in humiliation before sticking his nose in the air in annoyance. He glared at Gaara with a half-hearted attempt at a death-stare and shouted:

"Oh yeah? Well let's see you make up a better name then!"

"Very well," Gaara closed his eyes to ponder for a much better name. Suddenly it came to him. "Akatsuki means 'Dawn' correct?"

"Uh huh, go on..." Naruto looked at Gaara from the corner of his eye still a bit embarrassed at the way the former Kazekage had brushed off his suggestion so easily. It was a good name damn it!

"Well, 'Dawn' is obviously a symbolization that the group wants to start something that will probably destroy the world as we know it." Naruto nodded it made sense, in a sadistic morale-killing sort of way.

"So why don't we call ourselves Yoinokuchi? 'Nightfall', It means the complete opposite as a representation of our desires to go against their goals?"

Naruto cracked out a huge fox smile that could of very well break his face, the name was perfect, and he humbly admitted it made his proposition seem absolutely ridiculous...even if he still thought it was cool… "Gaara, I couldn't make a better name if I tried."

Gaara himself simply nodded in thanks and stared out the window in serenity, a welcome change of pace since the bout earlier that night. From that day on, Gaara will always remember that night when it seemed that the stars shone even brighter under the reign of the moon.

Naruto then looked out to the great lunar sphere; it was full and bright tonight, even though it was completely gone a few nights before. The emblematic relationship that that simple fact had with his own soul was a bit soothing. Knowing that no matter how much it breaks away or even if it disappears completely, his spirit will begin anew, just like the moon.

* * *

Unknown to either vessel a solitary being was watching them from outside their window. It was impossible to determine the person's gender. Whoever it was began smiling to itself and its mind whirling with thoughts and ideas. There was a literal storm of planning and deduction sprouting from his mind, foreseeing millions of possible outcomes simply from the previous events that he had rigged to set into motion. It was difficult manipulating the red-heads chemical imbalances in his head from a distance, even more so to do it at the right time. Luckily, it was nowhere near as hard to make sure he had 'coincidentally' run into the blonde loudmouth so soon. The unknown element wished it could do more at the moment, but the plan had to be followed to the letter…or else the entire thing would come down crushing all those related to it.

It would not let all those innocents die a vain death.

_(Phase one: complete. You've finally chosen the right path my friends, I'll make sure you stay on that path.) _

With that the mysterious being disappeared.

_

* * *

_

A bell rang in the distance signaling that it was now six-o'clock in the day. The children waved good bye to their story-teller as they walked home with their families and friends, preparing to eat their evening dinners and ramble on of their day's happenings. The traveling figure gave a small chuckle as he witnessed Rai wave goodbye over-enthusiastically and started to babble off about the power of youth. When Rai turned around, the traveler prepared a silencing jutsu just in case, but visibly relaxed when Rai sedately said they were going to bed.

Tomorrow would come soon, and another chapter would be told.


	4. Chapter 3: The Ox

**I don't own Naruto, deal with it.**

**Hot-Blooded Youth! The Six-Horned Ox Revealed!**

**- **

The stranger really wished he knew just how he got to where he was now.

He remembered falling into peaceful oblivion on top of his bed and had lavished in the feel of cushion filled with feathers. It had done his back wonders and relieved the pounding ache of his head from him

So why was it that he was now standing in his disheveled bed clothes in the middle of a very wet park?

The visitor began nodding off until a children's toy bonked him over the head by an irate eight year-old.

Oh yeah, that's why…

The crowd was waiting for him to wake up so Rai could continue the tale; he was telling it for him after all…the visitor sighed, damn him and his polite nature, damn it to hell!

Rai, simply paying attention to the fact that his guest was now fully awake, continued the story.

**-****  
**

Grass

That was the first sign the two noticed when they first entered Kusa no Sato. It was also the first indication that they were lost…

The two had intended to go into Rain…or rather, Naruto did, seeing as it was the closest country to Suna and had spent time there learning dozens of the little country's secrets during his three year expedition with the legendary pervert Jiraiya. One secret in particular had a very strong grip on his interests. But his _marvelous_ sense of direction had them somehow avoid Rain country completely and enter the border between Earth and Grass.

The country itself was covered in a thick blanket of hardy spring-like grass that went back to its original shape the moment any pressure on it left it, thus never giving anyone the chance to follow their footsteps back the way they came or find any decent trail to follow, it was most likely a jutsu of some sort. The smaller nations of the world had very little strength to boast of, so whatever they lacked in their level of power was made up with tricks and illusions…intricate tricks and illusions. The Grass for example had scattered hundreds of thousands of poisonous flowers that released multiple air-borne hallucinogens that only grass countrymen are immune to, the hallucinogens disorientate and mislead possible intruding ninja's for days to come...eventually wearing them out until they were weak enough for Kusa-jounin to eliminate.

Strangely enough, the plants were not the reason the two were lost, as their demon-enhanced immune systems had singled-out and terminated the toxins just as soon as they appeared. The two were never aware of their infection in the first place. Despite their immunity to the toxin, Naruto's sense of direction was continuing to prove itself pathetically comparable with that of deaf bat. Gaara, who had believed Naruto knew _exactly_ where they were going, had yet to notice their own dilemma, but was slowly realizing it by the hour. He was actually enjoying the unique scenery before him, although the ever-shifting dunes of Wind Country was a calming and homely sight, he could not ignore the exotic extravagance the rolling hills of Grass Country presented him with.

Gaara absorbed the natural beauty around him, _(It is just like my home, just green instead of tan…) _he suddenly stopped, could he ever consider Sunagakure home ever again? It had tossed him aside like rotting garbage, and felt no remorse from doing it. He knew there were some loyal to him, Baki and his siblings being the more prominent supporters of his position, but he could not help but feel unwanted at his home. As Gaara tried to account for his entire list loyalists, he could not help but remember the race he had entered to become Kazekage, it had not been an easy race to win the title of Kazekage, but strangely enough, it was his connection to Naruto himself that had landed him his occupation.

Gaara eyed his eccentric friend; it was amazing how much the blond had helped him by simply existing. When they had first formally met in the hospital where the that Rock Lee kid was, Gaara wanted nothing more than to use his sand to compress his body into a tiny fleshy cube of blood and organs. When he finally got that chance nearly a month later after the final stage of the chunnin exam, he was shocked to his very bleeding black core of his body to find out he was the weaker of the two. In a display that could only be justified as carnal, Naruto had fiercely defended his friends from his maddening bloodlust with his raw power.

Gaara rubbed the side of face, the phantom pain from Naruto's left hook still came back time to time…it was single-handedly the most devastating attack ever taken upon his person, for it did not hit him on a mere physical level. It had nearly shattered his very soul. Dread, terror, horror…any other synonym an author could think of could not begin to describe the level of fear Gaara had felt when he saw the blonde use his chin of all things to drag himself towards Gaara with a drowning amount of killing intent

But what happened next is an event that changed Gaara's life forever for the better.

Naruto did not kill him, he never lifted a finger at him after the clash between his toad and Shukaku, (although Gaara suspected it was because he couldn't rather than wouldn't) instead he talked. He spoke how the loyalties of his friends had kept him alive and gave him the power he used to defeat him. He said no matter how strong his enemies would become he would be stronger…simply because he had something precious to him worth bleeding for…something worth dying for.

Those were the very words he spoke when he gave his reason for his candidacy to become Kazekage, and he gained popularity with most of the youth because of it.

The elders were the most difficult to win over, their age-old grudges and justifiable skepticism had held off their favor for the red-headed demon container.

Then the missions came.

Missions from countries all over the world started to pour in from Konoha, specifically requesting Gaara and his siblings for countless A and S-rank missions. The money seemed to easily command the Old men with fat bellies. It was not until much later when he heard the rewired reports from Hokage-sama about Naruto's and his sensei's exploits. Those two seemed to be putting in a good word for everybody in Leaf and Sand, demand for shinobi never seemed to end…especially for the ones Naruto knew.

With the support of the young generations from his life changing experience with Naruto, and the exponential income gained with his connection to said blond, it was only a matter of testing his strength against his fellow opponents.

Naturally, he settled for nothing less than crushing unconditional victory…minus any bloodshed, he was civilized now after all.

Naruto suddenly stopped and turned to face the brooding vessel of Shukaku, a look that was easily described as 'I have absolutely NO idea where I am' on his face.

"Okay I'm lost…What about you Gaara?"

The following face-fault was only the first of the many that would come for the once-esteemed Kazekage.

-

Night had fallen and the two traveling shinobi had made camp.

The small fire they had able to scrounge up was made mostly from the grass surrounding them…they had used the flowers as well simply because they prefer the drab feel of the plain dirt floor over the strange almost disturbing feeling they got with the flowers. Naruto was contemplating sending clones in opposite directions to find any lumber; the flame was dying out rather quickly and nearly puffed out of existence every time the wind blew.

Naruto had just about given up at having a warm fire when a clone suddenly disappeared, giving him the location of a rather large tree. Reenergized at the new info, Naruto dragged Gaara a few hundred meters northeast of their position, and had found the said woody giant.

It was a strange-looking tree, it twisted and curved at the oddest locations and the branches looked as if an ogre had broken them and pasted them back on with glue. The leaves while identical, had the oddest of shapes…the bottom was round and flat while the middle was flattened out into two parallel lines that broke out into three jagged leaflets that looked more like broken bear bottles than organic substance. IT had flora scattered all over it, but looked more sickly than anything else; and had a strange odorless liquid seeping out of the petals.

"Are most trees this strange?"

Naruto could only shrug in response, sure he lived in a country full of the damn things but he only used them to get around quicker, he never really paid attention to them, seeing as none of them caught his attention as readily as this one did. He was wary of this tree, he knew he shouldn't worry about silly little plants as they could never hurt him, but something about this tree felt _off_.

"Let's go Gaara, this just doesn't feel right."

Gaara simply nodded and began to follow the blond while eyeing the strange tree; he did not walk far when he felt a foreign presence. By the way Naruto had stiffened his shoulders much like he did; Gaara assumed he had felt it as well.

Naruto closed his hand into a fist and let out three fingers, he slowly began to lower them as well.

_(Three...)_ Naruto began to focus chakra in his hand; he did not notice the fact that he did not need a clone to mold the chakra for him.

_(Two...)_ Sand started seeping from the ground for several meters around Gaara, but since it was so little around a large area, the new interlopers did not notice the living grains.

_(One!)_ The two sprung from their location and dashed to where the feeling was strongest, Gaara's sand shot out of the ground flailing wildly looking for prey as Naruto brought out his hand in a half seal to summon a squad of shadow clones while forming the ransengan, each armed with dozens of shuriken that flew at their hidden target with practiced precision.

There was only one enemy, and he had jumped into the air to avoid Gaara's attack, and had summoned a chunk of wood to act as a shield against the wave of shuriken. As he landed a few feet away he finally became aware of the speed Naruto was rushing at him was, going through seals that would have impressed a sannin, the unknown Nin prepared a powerful jutsu of his own.

"Ninpo: Kusa Senbon (Ninja Technique: Grass Needles)" The grass below the blond trebled for only a second before blasting out like a fragmentation grenade exploded; grass shrapnel flew out in all directions impaling Naruto indefinitely.

Or so the intruder thought.

A loud curse from the enemy was heard when he saw the blond disappear in a cloud of smoke, and let out another one as the smoke revealed a burning explosive note flapping in the wind.

Naruto appeared besides Gaara in a flurry of leaves and smirked. "Heh, Naruto Ninpo: Retribution Jutsu"

Although the resulting explosion would have taken care most of the lower level ninja in the world, it seems that this one was of the upper echelons of the secretive race. He had used his chakra to force-grow the grass in front of him to form a wall and had used his village's techniques to solidify the green plant into a barrier as solid as stone. Then using the dust cloud of the explosion, the enemy ninja faded out of sight in a blur.

Gaara knew the enemy was near and kept a close eye out, the night was still and no wind was blowing. Excellent, it would make it that much more easier to track his movements if his body disturbed the air. The grass was undisturbed and left no indication anywhere to where the other shinobi went. The wind was still so he was not moving at fast speeds, but then how did he disappear?

Blackness consumed Gaara as he pondered these thoughts; a confused cry from Naruto led him to believe that it was happening to him as well. When the darkness finally completed its entombment of Gaara, he felt no wind, heard no sound, and saw less than one with no eyes. Realizing all of this it was easy for Gaara to understand that they were dealing with a master genjutsu user.

Gaara's sand appeared from below to block a kunai aimed for the back of his neck, it seems that Shukaku had its uses after all…this shinobi should _not_ be taken lightly. "Bringer-of-Darkness technique…is not a beginner's illusion. As an A-rank jutsu only jounin and Kage-level ninja have the chakra to break the technique…you seem to have skill. Regrettably, it will not work on us." Without another moment's hesitation, Gaara brought out his hands and broke the illusion.

"KAI!"

As the shadows fell away in broken tiles, Gaara brought his hands up in waving motions and commanded his sand much like a maestro commanded his orchestra. Tendrils of stony grain whipped out from the floor and searched tirelessly for the soon-to-be-dead ninja. They lashed out frantically, destroying the immediate area by uprooting the grass and burying the plants in a current of sand. The constant thrashing eventually revealed the ninja when one of the arms slammed hard into the shinobi's side.

The ninja grunted in pain from the brutal attack, and had dropped the camouflage genjutsu he had set up around himself. He had only a second to gain his bearings when another wave of sand came upon him. Rolling on his side he used the momentum of him movement coupled with the force of his right arm to launch him into the air and used the opportunity to launch several shuriken at the red-haired kid.

Gaara send a small hail of his sand shuriken to break through the annoying weapons and continue flying to the enemy who was a proverbial sitting duck in the air.

The enemy ninja reacted quickly when he saw the incoming projectiles, and brought up one of his arms to take the brunt of the damage. The shinobi flew several yards away from the force of the blow but was able to roll on the floor and recover a bit, but his left arm a bloody mess and was hampering his movement a bit. He narrowed his eyes at Gaara severely angered at the severe pain he was feeling; deciding to fall back on his forte, the ninja brought up another seal and shimmered away into nothingness.

Gaara called upon his sand once again and kept wisps of it floating in the air, readying it to strike at any moment.

"Triad side one! _Demonic Illusion: The Four Symbols!_"

Gaara shot his head up as he heard the voice; the ninja had jumped impossibly high in the air and had thrown four oddly shaped kunai in a diamond formation around the battlefield. He had forced his bloodied arm to form a seal with his other hand, and had called upon all of his remaining chakra to complete his final jutsu, with a tired smile he fell to the floor and watched with smug contempt. "This is one of my Triad Jutsu, the ultimate technique of a specialized art of killing. Only the strongest of ninja could hope to beat even one of them."

Gaara at first did not believe that the technique was worthy of all the praise the caster gave it, but soon changed his opinion when he saw the end result.

Four giant beasts had erupted from where their former kunai restraints had been. The first was dark black tortoise that seemed to have a small forest of bonsai on his shell, the second beast was a marvelous flaming phoenix with red-orange flames, third was a noble white tiger with upper fangs hanging far below his lower jaw, and the last and most awesome of the four was a giant azure dragon whipping around the air.

Gaara could only think of one thing:

_(Where the HELL is Naruto?!?!?) _

_- _

It was immediately after the darkness surrounded him that the Kyuubi decided to play his role as a bastard. Naruto had not expected it at all seeing as the fox only came out during battles when he was bleeding himself to a corpse.

There was a sudden itch on his forehead, it was nothing much at first but it soon began to annoy him greatly. Not long after there was a strange stretching feeling coming from the frontal bone of his skull. Then the pain began.

Naruto felt blood dripping down his face, was he hit? Or was it simply part of the genjutsu? Naruto brought his hands to dispel the technique and summoned a tidal wave of chakra, but nothing happened and the pain continued. It was not long until chips of bone fell to the floor.

_(Ugh...What's happening to me!? Damn it Kyuubi, do something!) _

The familiar grumbling that the Kyuubi made was heard for only a second before turning into a full blown laughter.

**WHY SHOULD I GAKI? WHEN I AM THE ONE DOING THIS?** The Kyuubi sent another outbreak of his influence on the blond; the process would be done soon. The idiots screaming had not gotten in the way.

_(What are you talking about fox-bastard!? Why are you doing this?! You know if I die you die too_!) Naruto had now fallen to his knees, and resting his head on the grassy floor. If this pain didn't stop soon, then he'll really be in deep shit.

**FOOLISH BRAT, HAVE YOU ALREADY FORGOTTEN OUR DEAL? I AM ONLY HERE TO CALL UPON MY FIRST FAVOR.** There was only a little bit more to go…humph, this body needed a lot of work. He will have to refurnish it before he would ever think of inhabiting it. There were just too many weaknesses, the worst one he was taking care of now.

Naruto immediately forgot all the pain in his head, the deal…The Deal?! The fox decide now of all times to bring out his favor? When he was trapped in some kind of super-genjutsu and completely vulnerable to attack? It was a miracle that he hadn't died yet! Gaara was most likely unknowingly buying him time for whatever Kyuubi wanted to do, and he'll be damned if didn't piss and moan about it to the fucking fur-ball.

Naruto writhed in pain for the next few minutes as he slashed at his own skull in a weak attempt to distract himself with a lesser pain, it obviously did not work as he still felt as if needles were picking apart at the soft fleshy organ that was his brain. Just as he thought he couldn't take it anymore, there pain amplified ten-fold for just a second before disappearing all together. Naruto fell flat on his stomach on the floor and slowly picked himself up, he still felt a small a residual amount of pain tingling on his head, but he felt a strange hollowness where the pain originated. When his eyes started to focus right he noticed all the blood, skin, and bone on the floor. It didn't look like much, but damned if whatever Kyuubi did didn't hurt. Naruto tried to feel what had happened when the Kyuubi yelled at him.

**WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING BRAT!? YOU CAN'T TOUCH IT! IT STILL NEEDS TIME TO ADJUST… **

Naruto finally found the energy to stand on his feet and snarled groggily at the fox. _(Adjust? What needs to adjust? Ugh, Kyuubi; I promise that the next time I see you I'm going to rip your heart from your chest and **force** your still beating pile of flesh down your throat.)_

Kyuubi simply chuckled at the retort, a self-contented smile adorning his face. **I'M FLATTERED BRAT, IT SEEMS I HAVE FINALLY STARTED TO INFLUENCE YOUR INSULTS. YOU NEVER SAID ANYTHING SO _DEMONIC_ BEFORE…HEH, HEH, HEH. **

_(…)_ Naruto had no response to that, because quite simply, he agreed. He had said something the Kyuubi would have said…not Uzumaki Naruto…what did that mean? Was Kyuubi slowly winning over his mind? Maybe he really was turning you a demon, or is it simply the anger and pain that he felt from whatever procedure Kyuubi did to him? The more he though about it the more he doubted it was a fluke, and soon he was spiraling into a state of unrest.

Kyuubi had not intended anything by the remark, but it remembered the brat's reaction as it was a potential catalyst for future devices. However, it will not help in the impending battle; shame, but he would have to rip asunder the _human's_ soul another time.

**BRAT! SHUT THE HELL UP AND PAY ATTENTION! THE PSYCHO-SHIT (1) IS GETTING HIS ** **SANDY**** ASS HANDED TO HIM BY A _VERY_ INTERESTING JUTSU. YOU SHOULD PROBABLY HELP THE POOR HUMAN BASTARD BEFORE HE BECOME A MEMORY. **

With that the Kyuubi receded into the depths of the sewers, but not to the same extent as before, it felt as if he simply sat a seat behind him rather than leaving the room entirely…but Naruto paid no attention to that.

He had a friend to help.

-

Gaara was at the end of his rope, the genjutsu he was facing was as ridiculously cruel as it was effective.

Each of the four beasts represented a part of the human body. The Lion which was the fastest had represented the legs, the lumbering Tortoise had symbolized his arms, the swift Bird corresponded to his eyes, and the Dragon…well he was going to find out until the enemy suddenly called it back as if it was a living being.

"You put up a tough fight" Began the enemy. "I didn't guess that you two were _that_ strong at first, seeing the way you two acted when you entered Grass borders. A fool with no sense of direction and a second fool following the first, not an impressive presentation." The enemy then gave a hearty chuckle. "But when I fought you…how wrong had I been! You are anything but weak, and I can only assume that the blonde is stronger…seeing as you were the one following him…" The shinobi tilted his head to the black sphere yards away from him, and then to the swirling blue dragon above. "The Azure Dragon of the East is the most powerful of the four…while the three you went through simply stole your ability to move, the dragon corrupts the mind and forces your heart to stop beating."

Gaara's glazed eyes widened when he heard that. There were very few genjutsu in the entire ninja continent that could kill a person directly. They demanded a massive understanding of the human mind and surgical precision of chakra control. Even then most genjutsu simply vegetate their victims, or would usually force the target to take his own life to escape it. This man is of considerable skill…is it possible he is with Akatsuki?

The shinobi turned to him and spoke dispassionately. "You are no longer a threat, I can kill with a shuriken if I wanted to…but the other has yet to arrive. I have never taken any chance decision in my life…it is the reason why I am still alive today." The shinobi looked at his hand and grasped it tightly. "The same cannot be said for my friends" The shinobi waved his hands to the black dome ahead of him and the dragon gave a mighty roar before heading straight to it. "The same cannot be said for you two either…"

Gaara summoned his sand and wrapped it around his arms and legs, using them as replacement limbs until he regained control of his original ones. Using an extreme amount of concentration that it nearly blew his mind, Gaara punched the man with enough force that it sent him at breakneck speeds toward the strange tree that he and Naruto had found earlier before.

The impact was nothing short of astounding as the tree groaned from the blow dealt to it from the human missile. It swayed back and forth for a second before toppling over and hopefully crushing the enemy ninja. The dragon suddenly changed courses from directly to the sphere to flying as high as it could climb; Gaara only knew this from the rapidly dieing roars the dragon let out. Gaara let out a breath to relax and released the mental hold he had on his sand, he collapsed immediately from the lost support and was horrified to see that he could still not move or see.

"That hurt."

Gaara rounded his head to the sound of the voice, the ninja was still alive! But the tree…

"That was pretty clever of you; I didn't expect you to do that." Gaara heard the distinct sound of metal sliding against metal as he heard footsteps nearing him. "I was going to give you a peaceful death, short and painless. But now you pissed me off, so I'm going to make you suffer. But first…" The ninja motioned the dragon to crash down to the unsuspecting ninja below it, and it gave one final glorious roar before it spiraled down to the blackness.

The next series of events were unexpected to say the least.

Red chakra flew out from the black sphere and broke it open like a hen's egg, the figure in its center bellowing in triumph. The once mighty dragon that had been crashing down from above was split in half by a thin ray-like bean that had extended from the face of the new contender.

When the beast had been slain and its duty technically over with; the three other great beasts retired to oblivion.

Gaara, now freed form his mental incapacitation, dashed away from the foreign ninja and used his sand to cover himself. He then used his sand to launch small sand shuriken at high speeds in am attempt to knock out the enemy.

The grass ninja that had caused all the trouble was sent flying but regained his footing quickly._ (What is with this guy and launching me into the air_? The grass-nin then went through a series of seals that should end the fight in no time flat.

"Ninpo: Snake Grass Canopy"

The entire field where the three were started growing to uncontrollable proportions, and wrapped themselves around any obstacle they found; save for the caster and any who he or she deemed fit to spare.

Gaara felt the grasses penetrating his dense sand armor as they began to slowly encircle him. He suddenly became aware of the pressure he was feeling; it seemed the grass was binding him and trying to crush him with all of its strength. It even went so far as to penetrate both his shield and armor of sand as it grew inch by inch closer to himself, it was not until he felt the grass wrap around his neck that he let his sand explode outward to push away the grass. He them summoned a small could of sand to act as platform for him to land on and float into higher altitudes.

Gaara was about to start the whole thing over again when he heard Naruto scream out a battle cry.

The blonde had summoned enough chakra to keep the grass around him from growing, and it slowly began to poison and burn the jungle-like grass around him. It wasn't long until all the grass in his immediate area was completely gone, leaving only scorched Earth behind. Naruto took a giant whiff of air and exhaled loudly and arrogantly, he had never felt so…_invigorated_. He had always enjoyed fighting, especially against the bastard Sasuke or for a good cause, but now…now he indulged himself in the raw bliss that he felt from the actions he made.

Strangely enough, he had never felt as focused either…his mind was oddly sharp, especially considering the fact that he had suffered a literal torrent of mind-numbing pain courtesy of the fox, which he would have to remind himself to ask about just what the hell the said bastard did to him. Whatever it was, it seemed it was one of the few times that the means justified the end. The new ability had allowed him to break the genjutsu he was trapped in almost effortlessly; an ability he had never perfected before in his life.

The breaking of the dragon had been proof; somehow he had simply known the great beast was nothing more than an illusion. It was an intricate and complex illusion to be sure, but an illusion nonetheless. He had focused his chakra to a pinpoint precise attack to split the dragon in two and erase it from his field of vision. Had he tried that before Kyuubi's little project in him it would undoubtedly would have failed miserably.

It was also evidenced by the simplicity he demonstrated finding the enemy ninja. He _was_ supposed to stay hidden until he had gotten into his village and called for reinforcements, but Naruto's brutal attack from behind changed that. The man was simple enough to spot, seeing as the chakra he had flowing over his body during his Meisaigakure no Jutsu (hiding camouflage technique) was nothing short of a giant neon sign screaming 'I'm here' to Naruto.

The man gave a grunt went he fell to the floor and hadn't even turned around when Naruto stepped on his neck.

Hard.

For a moment Naruto couldn't believe what he had done. This man could have had a family…a wife, a son or a daughter, maybe even both. He had friends and comrades that cared about him, at least…he should have. What if he took away happiness from those people? What if he had destroyed a family that will never find joy without this person? Is he any different from any of his own enemies if he had done those things? This man was **dead**; his neck crushed under his heel like a nameless insect…it felt so, so…

Empty.

Naruto felt no sense of fulfillment, alleviation, or even despair. The lack of reaction frightened him. At any other time he would have felt depressed at taking another man's life…shinobi training be damned. It simply wasn't in his nature to do such things, and when he did something that he felt that wasn't himself…the fear he feels is second only to losing his precious people.

Ever since the Mizuki incident at his unofficial graduation, Naruto had always kept a strict character setting for himself, never daring to cross the line unless the situation demanded it. He felt that if he started acting differently than he should have, then the beast within would be taking over him…so his system worked in two ways. It told the villagers that something was up and helps them prepare, and it told Naruto to get ready to pick up a very sharp knife.

Naruto was not afraid of his own death; he had long ago tried to end his own life many times, although each attempt ended in failure. Eventually he gathered enough strength to pull through that phase, but the emotional scars still hurt even to now. After his discovery of Kyuubi his fear did not wane; in the contrary, it lessened. If he died then a lot of people would be forever safe from the chaos of the damned demon, they would never have to fear for him breaking and letting the demon run around in a murderous frenzy. He went through this all over again with Akatsuki…but soon changed when he had found Gaara, he would not let others like himself suffer.

Naruto was still staring at the corpse when Gaara walked up behind him.

Gaara kneeled down to the body to inspect Naruto's 'footwork'; it was not a pretty sight. It seemed that the force of the stomp was so strong it created a deep imprint below the neck, the bone was easily snapped and blood rushed through the broken and exposed carotid arteries and jugular veins. "An efficient, if brutal kill Uzumaki…it would be best if we destroyed the body now. We have to cover our tracks as quickly as possible, but I doubt it will be long until this man's friends come looking for him. A ninja this strong is bound to have allies."

Naruto mutely nodded and summoned a small toad to the height of his thigh, and asked him to cover the body with oil, the toad complied and poof-ed away when its job was done eager to return home after a gruesome errand. Naruto hesitated only for a second before shifting through a small set of jutsu and setting the body aflame. The sight of fire was usually relaxing to the blonde ninja, but this time the flames did little to calm him, it would be awhile until he got out of his temporary funk.

"Neh Naruto…since when was that village there?"

Naruto turned quickly at Gaara question was astounded at what he saw.

There in front of him in all of clandestine glory was Kusagakure, the Village Hidden in the Grass.

-

It had been _very_ annoying to enter the village.

Sure it was great that they had actually found the place, seeing as the weird trees surrounding the village (like the one the two had found) kept a super-powerful S-rank genjutsu to hide the village from any or all invading armies. However, that was the _only_ good thing to happen since there discovery.

What seemed like half of the entire villages ninja force had raced towards the battle grounds where the two demon vessels had fought the enemy grass ninja, and were completely shocked to see their comrade dead.

In the conversation that Gaara and Naruto overheard, it seemed that this particular ninja was simply known as Ryu, his name given to him for his powerful genjutsu. His strength was second only to the grass village leader. Gaara and Naruto had looked at each other at that, so not all grass-nin were like the one they fought, but they would have to be wary of the village leader; if he was that much stronger than the Ryu guy…well a tactical retreat would _probably_ be the best move they would make.

If that wasn't enough Naruto now had a permanent visual problem that would hamper his ability to infiltrate anyplace from now on, it wasn't so much the fact that his vision suffered; no his hindrance came from the physical alteration Kyuubi had made on him.

He now had a _third_ eye.

It could've been claws, a bit of fur, fangs, or even a god-damn fucking tail for all he cared! But the damn fox just had to put an entire fucking _new eye _in his forehead to make his already shitty life a messier hell.

The only reason he even knew he had the damn thing was when it popped out of its socket stretched out a few inches to look at him straight in the _err_, eye. Naruto was so surprised that he nearly lopped the thing off with a Kunai; if it wasn't for Kyuubi's timely intervention he would have been permanently blinded.

It turns out that the damn fox had re-worked his entire ocular system, Naruto didn't understand all the specifics or the annoying terminology, but he got the basic idea. The fox had severed the fiber-like connections from his original eyes, mostly the veins and nerves; and rerouted them to the third eye on his forehead; which was the only eye that was directly connected to his brain.

So in short, his two original eyes only work only if his new third eye stays intact.

The eye did obviously come with benefits since the fox wasn't stupid enough to moronically make his only line of survival a giant target for every living being that hated demon, said people make up mostly the entire world; save for lunatics and the mindless. The eye was used solely for defense; it protected Naruto from all forms of illusions and genjutsu, practically making him immune to all of the techniques that were formerly his greatest weakness. The eye also served as a window for the Kyuubi, it allowed him to see anything that needed to be seen, and gave him immediate communication to Naruto's consciousness. Naruto however, could still block out the Kyuubi's rambling if he forced the eye to close, something that he was infinitely happy for.

But when Gaara had asked what was going on, Naruto had to waste a lot of time explaining every little detail with the overly-intuitive red-head. By the time he was done explaining the sun had long rose over from the horizon and was beating down on them mercilessly, causing annoyance number three: distasteful weather. The sun just _had_ to decide today of all days to be one of the hottest days of the year.

Gaara had a mixed reaction, he was very worried that the demon within Naruto would take advantage of the current arrangement and would release himself at the best opportune time; but at the same time he could not help but feel curious if it would make his own level power rise even greater. He had noticed that the familiar lack of control over his sand was beginning to creep itself back since the return of Shukaku, and was beginning to already miss his ability to sleep. Gaara was at first wary of the agreement Naruto had with his demon, but with the combination of the desire to sleep coupled with the impression the power boost the blonde had been given eventually won Gaara over.

The two boys spent the better part of their infiltration mission figuring out details with the sand incarnation, causing a _ridiculous_ level of careless mistakes that had almost got them caught numerous times.

Approximately 24 hours later, Yoinokuchi were safely within Kusagakure.

-

Naruto wandered throughout the village with no particular destination in mind. Try as he might he couldn't get a single lead to where the village's jinchuuriki could be, Gaara had told him that the jinchuuriki of this country could have been sealed in a different person but Naruto felt different. He _knew_ that the person was here somewhere, something just told him in the pit of his stomach that he was right. But with Gaara currently still catching up on some sleep that he missed out on from the first 16 years of his life it was all but impossible to make any progress.

His reverie was literally smacked out of his head when an eyesore for a ball him square on his forehead. He was wearing a protective leather headband to hide his newly dubbed 'Zeus Eye', so it was okay. But the meaning of the name was still lost to him, the fox had assured him that the name was absolutely feared at a certain point of time so he let it drop, Zeus sort of sounded cool anyway. Naruto picked up the ball and looked around to fin any group of kids wanting their ball back, curiously there wasn't and Naruto was resigned to look around confusedly. There were no kids, so why was there a ball?

"U-um e-excuse me mister…can I have my ball back?"

Naruto looked down to see who spoke at the whisper tone of voice. It was a young kid, a boy about 10 years of age or so. His head was down and had his arms out in wary expectancy, but were slightly bent so they could be retracted quickly if the need arose. Bandages wrapped around his scrawny arms but it was easy to see that the kid was no ninja, Naruto only assumed that the id had run-ins with the wrong kind of people.

_(But what kind of people would hurt a kid so badly?)_ Naruto thought a little more before a realization struck him. _(Or what kind of kid would make people hurt him?)_

The child slowly creaked an eye open, the strange person had not yelled at him yet, but when he looked up to see the person's eyes he could see the man contemplating something. That was strange, was he trying to decide which was the best way to hurt him? He wouldn't really be surprised if that was really what was going about the guy's head.

The boy was about to make a break for it when the guy suddenly brought his hand down, the boy braced himself for the pain that would always come, but was shocked at what happened next.

"Neh kid you got to be more careful" Naruto gave the boy a wide smile as he ruffled the boy's hair in a friendly matter. "Not a lot of people are as nice as me so you got to improve your aim." Naruto rubbed his forehead to emphasize his point. "But I got to admit I felt that one, not a lot of people can do that you know." Naruto finally put the ball in the kid's hands and began to walk away. "Maybe I'll see you later kid" Naruto then gave a single wave before turning a corner and disappearing out of the kids view.

The child; utterly shocked at what just happened, began to slowly scurry away from the spot towards his home, but eventually ended up running as fast as his young legs could take him. Aniki definitely needs to hear about this!

As the kid ran back to what he thinks his home, Naruto jumped from building to building keeping a close eye on him. He didn't want anything bad to happen to the little guy, but he didn't want to draw any attention to himself if something did happen. He made a single shadow clone and told him to wake Gaara, when the clone gave him a look that said 'Are you fucking serious?' Naruto relented and made nine more clones, Gaara is always so cranky when he woke up…

-

Kanaye was having a very strange week.

About five days ago, Kusagakure's famed Kusaryuu was found dead at the village's outer limits next to a destroyed Hallucinogen Orchid. The orchid was supposed to let out a unique spore that invaded the human visual senses via the eyes. The spores would diffuse into fluid within the eye and then diffuse into the bloodstream and work its way to the brain, there it would force the brain to not recognize any person or object that it deemed the 'other side' of the tree. Kusa ninja would regularly patrol these trees to find any wandering ninja and raise an alarm to rally other nearby ninja to eliminate the enemy. The defense mechanism was just one of the many secrets hidden within the village…

And someone found it out.

Needless to say it was causing quite a stir within the ninja community and every available ninja, including himself, was working double overtime to find the intruders.

The next strange event that happened dealt with the demon within him. Simply out of nowhere the thing began to thrash about and snorting wildly. It was one of the rare occurrences that it spoke that it understood why.

"Challenge"

That's what it said, and nothing more.

_(But challenge of what I wonder?)_ Thought Kanaye as he rubbed his chin, the word was spoken the day Ryu was found dead and it was still nagging him at the back of his mind. If that wasn't enough to bother him, his younger brother Haru had come hollering of a person that had actually treated him _civilly_. As in, _not_ an abomination…that was a bit of news that had him reeling in shock.

(_Who would treat Haru like a normal person? Not that I'm complaining…but that is not normal, I'm going to have to look into this.)_ Kanaye listened to Haru babble on and on about the man that had been nice to him. He described him with blonde hair and blue eyes; a rarity in the village in not the country. He also said that he had whiskers or something that looked like them on his cheeks, and that he had a leather headband tied around his forehead like his shinobi hitai-ate **_(forehead protector)_**.

They were all very unique traits so it shouldn't be hard to tell him apart from everybody else, Kanaye told his otouto to look after himself and stay in the house for the rest of the day, he had intruders to hunt.

Haru pouted a bit but nodded nonetheless, intruders were scary business, and he doesn't wake to make nii-san worry. Either way he feeling tired again, a good long nap would help.

-

Naruto followed the little boy now known as Haru until he entered a house that he assumed was his. He was about to turn back and wake Gaara up when he walked right into somebody.

The impact felt more like a steel wall than flesh and bone, and it drove Naruto straight into the ground. As Naruto was about to reprimand whoever had gotten in his way, he felt a very strong hand gripping his throat. When he cracked his eyes open he saw the large shinobi that the kid was talking to earlier, but he looked a lot more intimidating up front.

This ninja was huge in terms of muscle; he looked like the type guy who ate steroids for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. His skin was a dark tan in contrast to the usually pale skin a ninja usually inherits; a possible testament to how much he works out in the sun. His face was relatively forgettable seeing as there were no distinguishable parts to it, he had common black hair and brown eyes. He wore no shirt or armor underneath his chunnin jacket so Naruto could only guess that his guy had competent skills in evasion to go into a shinobi's trade without protection. Lastly, the guy wore only the zubon part of a judogi around his legs, and no sandals.

_(What kind of idiot fights a shinobi without sandals?)_ Thought Naruto, there were countless amounts of methods available to shinobi to render an enemy immobile by targeting the feet, from caltrops to unique jutsu made for the job; it was just as insane to fight without sandals as it was to fight without armor. _(Who is this guy?)_ Naruto could fathom what this guy was capable of, and he did not want to stick around to find out.

Kanaye looked down at the person that was suspiciously staring at his house. Blue eyes, blonde hair, and whiskers…so this was the guy who treated his brother normally, but what was he doing just now?

Deciding it was better not to beat the information out of someone for once; Kanaye settled the man down and looked at him straight in the eye.

"I don't know who hell you are or what the hell you want, and I couldn't give a rat's ass to what that is, but if fucking _dare_ betray the trust my little brother was kind enough to give you…" Kanaye leaned forward to whisper into the blonde man's ear. "I'll rip your retarded body piece by piece and feed your damned remains to the birds. Got that shit-lick?"

Kanaye than slapped Naruto once on the shoulder and gave him a single nod before disappearing into thin air.

Naruto, stunned, muttered a single word.

"Whoa"

Then he too, vanished.

-

"You're sure?"

"Not really, but my gut is telling me so."

"What if you're gut is wrong?"

"It's never failed me before."

"Hmm…"

Gaara and Naruto were overlooking the neighborhood where their potential jinchuuriki brethren lived; Naruto had spilled everything to Gaara, from the boy's submissive and hesitant attitude to the kid's steroid-freak of a brother. Gaara was naturally skeptical; it was not enough information to go on, for all they knew the two boys could have come from a clan that had fallen from grace. Just because one child was afraid of s stranger and cheered up considerably when his toy was given back to him doesn't automatically make him a candidate for a demon vessel.

But something about the boy drew Gaara to him; it was only after he saw the child that he began feeling different about him. The boy just had an air of sadness around him that Gaara could not help but relate to.

Nodding to Naruto, Gaara positioned himself outside of the boy's home and fixed his robes accordingly. The two had decided he would be the one to break the news to the kid, especially if the older brother was around. He had the no-bullshit kind of face when speaking at all times and his experiences while being Kazekage had given him an aura of command that would stall the large ninja long enough for Gaara to tell his story.

It also helped that he had a near-impenetrable wall against all forms of taijutsu that would protect him accordingly if the big shinobi decided to take the more violent method of expressing himself.

Gaara walked up to the door with a stern emotionless face and was about t knock when he was surrounded by grass ninja.

Naruto, who was still hidden, almost gave away his position by cursing loudly. Had the grass-nin found out they were intruders? Or did they somehow know they were about to steal their jinchuuriki? No, most likely they were a paranoid bunch and thought Gaara to be a little to out of the norm. Since the numberless amount of rings under his eyes that could pass off as mascara and the giant gourd strapped to his back _did_ stand out in a village where everybody sleeps and has plenty of water, it was a wonder they hadn't attracted attention earlier.

One of the larger ninja stepped forward towards Gaara mirroring the same unemotional mask the red-head did. "Step aside villager; we have _business_ with the people in this house."

Naruto sighed. "So they don't know who we are…" A few seconds pass until he realized what the ninja said. "Wait, what?!"

Gaara stood his ground and cocked his head to the side to indicate that he didn't understand, he needed to buy a little time to analyze the situation. The boy was in there, that he was sure of, and he also knew that he hadn't left the entire day. The older brother's whereabouts were unknown, Naruto after all had met them the day before, so the Kanaye person could still be out patrolling the village. It is most likely the case if the child really was a jinchuuriki.

There were many times in Gaara's own youth where he was attacked when _he_ was not around. _He_ acted like a warning signal to potential attackers, basically saying 'you need to go through me before you reach the kid'. If Kanaye was anything like _he_ was, then their young friend might be in major trouble.

Gaara was brought out of contemplation when one of the ninja tried to grab him by the neck and had his hand wrapped in sand and subsequently crushed when it contracted.

The other ninja fell back into a defensive stance and one even jumped to the rooftops to signal the entire village, one of the intruders have been found.

Naruto sent a clone in place of himself as he remained hidden, it would be best if he stayed out of the open until Gaara really needed it. Naruto then made a second clone and ordered it to henge into a ferret; the clone did so and ended up with a paper seal wrapped around its back. Naruto ordered it to go as far south as possible until it ran out of energy to run, and the ferret was running in less than a blink of an eye. Naruto turned back to look at Gaara after his clone left, and smirked what he saw.

-

Gaara had decided not to kill the ninja attacking him, it was stupid and naïve to think that it wouldn't come back to haunt him, but Gaara was trying to destroy his old blood-lust, not renew it. Gaara knocked at the door once more, and this time he had gotten a response. The small boy Naruto had described to him was there, looking up at him with eyes filled with terrified awe…he most likely saw the 'battle' if one would deem it that, through one of the houses few windows. Gaara offered him a hand, but nothing else, he kept the stony expression even long after the boy grasped his palm.

_(His hand doesn't shake…)_ Mused Gaara, he was impressed by the emotional fortitude the boy presented, and quickly caught him when the boy suddenly collapsed from exhaustion. For a moment, all Gaara could do was stand there awkwardly with the boy in his arms. He had always been, and always will be the youngest of three siblings…so when he was faced with a child younger than himself…Gaara felt an emotion vaguely familiar, but at the same time hardly recognizable.

_(Is this…Is this how Kankouro and Temari feel…about me?) _

An eternity passed within a second as Gaara contemplated this, and was brought out of his deep though only by his friends predictable yelling. Gaara grasped Haru gently and leapt away from a hail of kunai, keeping a large wall of sand to protect him and Haru from the deadly blades. When he finally had a chance to drop the wall, there were enough kunai to supply a full infiltration team of nine jounin. Gaara finally took notice of his surroundings.

About fifty grass-nin of different caliber had him surrounded and were ready to kill.

Gaara shifted his eyes and grunted. "Humph"

And then the extermination began.

-

Kanaye wiped the blood away from his mouth as the last body fell.

The Grass village leader had decided to use the current _situation_ to eliminate him, claiming he was the one to kill the Grass's famed 'Grass Dragon'. The village embraced the idea all too happily, and now he was the one looking at death in the eye, not the real intruders.

_(Probably will kill them too)_ Kanaye though bitterly, he spat on the ninja he had just killed, they were annoying to deal with. _(I better get Haru and get out…If I'm not already too late…)_

Using his acquired skills he grew a system of vines that surrounded him and pulled him underground, it was his fastest and most secret way of travel, and the vines always took him to the same destination.

_(Haru…don't die) _

The vines crawled faster.

-

About twenty three ninjas were scattered around the battlefield unconscious, they were the easiest to scare into submission so the easiest to write off and eliminate.

The rest were not so incompetent.

Killing intent did little to these ninja except pester them, and Gaara's walls and shields were being worked away little by little. They were too fast for his sand to catch in the air by regular means, it didn't help that there too many of them to catch one at a time or even at all. They all watched each others backs and helped each other escape when Gaara was lucky enough to catch one. The illusions they made were not _too_ hard to break, but it did make the situation more difficult.

If things did not improve soon, he would have to resort to his untested abilities…

Gaara then felt a third party of chakra moving blindingly fast in his direction; the level of chakra indicated an amount equal of a village leader, with several escorts.

Gaara sighed at his apparent misfortune; he guessed it was better now then ever to find out just how much he was capable of now.

He should deal with these nuisances first. Twenty-three enemy grass-nin to eliminate, so he needed twenty-three clones…but why should he stop at mere clones? Why not something…new?

Gaara smirked as a very good idea popped into his head.

"Suna Hikyuu"

-

"Scary…"

Frightening it was. Naruto watched Gaara as he made a battalion of leopard beasts made of sand to deal with the grass-nin. The beasts were terrifying; they were bipedal creatures with lanky arms and powerful legs. Its paws were, as they're namesake hints, cat-like, with claws extending far beyond than that of a canines' level. Thin rope-like tails that were custom for the big cat whipped around in the air with minds of their own. The beasts weren't muscled, or at least, they didn't _seem_ to be, but knowing 'Shinobi Tricks and Traps 101' they were undoubtedly strong. Gaara had made their heads low but intimidating, giving them the look of a soulless hunter searching for the pleasure of the hunt and blood and nothing else.

The assault the beasts made against the grass-nin was absolutely brutal, the enemy ninja had no idea what hit them as they were gutted like fish and were left to bleed to death. The luckier ones only got a swift decapitation that spared any misery they would have felt if killed like their comrades, the more unfortunate individuals had their innards ripped out from their torso and abdomen in a spectacular show of red waterfalls. Soon bodies missing pieces from all over decorated the floor and walls in red. The crimson-stained sand monsters seem to only bask in glow and roar mightily as they literally drank the blood of their kills, adding strength to Gaara's already powerful blooded sand.

Naruto descended from his hiding place and walked slowly to Gaara, who was ignoring him in favor of paying attention to little Haru. Who, Naruto could hardly believe, slept through entire ordeal after his fall to realm of unconsciousness.

Preparing to let out one of his infamous loud greeting, Naruto only felt the world of pain dealt to him _after_ he slammed hard onto the ground fast enough to bury his head in the dirt.

Gaara, now out of his reverie, sent a set of sand tentacles to restrain Naruto's attacker, only to have them broken like went tissue. Gaara was soon sent into shock at what he saw.

There in front of him was Haru's older brother…

With six black demonic horns sprouting from his body.

-

When Kanaye returned home, he expected an army of ninja led by the village leader, a hurt or dead Haru in their clutches.

He did see both an unconscious Haru and an army of Kusa ninja, but they weren't in the kind of state he thought they would be in. The ninja were either dead or dying and Haru seemed he decided to take a short nap rather than fall unconscious from a heavy blow to the head. The demonic-looking sand cat things were also not-to-expect list.

"Ugh…What hit me?"

Oh yeah, the blonde too…what was he doing here anyways? Was he just caught in the middle of the whole thing?

Or did he play a part?

Kanaye was about to lift the guy from his hair out of the crater he forced him into when _sand_ of all things wrapped around his arms and legs. Grunting in annoyance, he decided to show the guy who did this to him just exactly what he was dealing with.

Opening what he dubbed 'The Inner Floodgate', Kanaye formed a typhoon of chakra around him; it easily tore away the sand and let him free. Soon he began to change, as it was custom for him to do so. It began innocently enough, his muscles expanded and his body grew; but it soon grew more…sinister. A pair of curved black horns bloomed from his upper back, temples, and forehead simultaneously; the effect it made was only enhanced by his now bovine-like face.

The power was, as always, invigorating, but it was also very painful. Humans were not meant to use demonic chakra, especially one as potent as the six-tailed beast.

Heh, the bull inside was slowly growing angry…its herd was being hunted…he didn't like that.

No, he didn't like that at all…

-

Gaara did not like being punched, having a near impenetrable shield of sand protecting your body from something as delicate as a falling flower petal since near the day of his birth, Gaara has never really adapted to his sense of touch. Even to this day where he could control the sand to stay down with hi will alone, he had never really embraced the feeling of something against his skin. He still flinched when Temari tries to hug him when the siblings believe no one is watching; even Kankouro's shoulder pats, however brief, seem alien to him.

So when Gaara felt the immeasurable amount of pain inflicted on his face courtesy of Kanaye's fist, he felt an anger that could rival that of a drunken demon on crack.

Gaara formed a few seals and began one of the many techniques he had made during his desert experiments. (Sand and Steel: Desert Undertaker's Flail) The jutsu produced a sand clone of himself in a soul reapers garb holding a large scythe made of his iron sand. The sand clone lashed out his scythe which detached in select locations forming the flail Gaara had named the move after. The clone and scythe were nothing more than psychological additions to an iron sand version of a bladed sand tentacle. He did not know how it would affect the strong or weak willed, and wished to test its psychological effectiveness.

Some of it had worked as Gaara saw Haru's elder brother flinch slightly at the intimidating sand clone, but he still reacted fast enough to fall back and dodge the attack...It seems the technique need a bit more alteration, no matter. Gaara placed his hands together for maximum concentration, and soon tendrils of both iron and blooded sand erupted forth from every possible location, the leopard beast themselves melting into more of the tentacles. The immediate area of the village seemed more like a forest of trees made of steel and sand rather than the suburban town it once was.

Kanaye was getting irate; his opponent was flawlessly keeping him away from Haru, but nothing more. His attacks were slow and easy to dodge for someone at his speed, but he had to change his plans soon, he would not be able to keep this up forever. Kanaye grimaced as one of the black tendrils grazed grazed his muscled arm; soon another was able to gash him, then another and another.

_(They're getting faster!)_ Kanaye realized with horror. True to his finding, the tendrils eventually began increasing in speed; Gaara's seal glowing in a pulsing red from the concentration put out in making it possible.

Kanaye retreated a reasonable distance away from the tendrils before bracing himself. It was never his best alternative to think before taking action, he had always took everything head-on until whatever it was in front of him collapsed to got out of the way. Kanaye leveled the horns on his head with the ones sprouting from the top of his back and focused chakra along them, controlling them so they would grow longer, sharper, denser. When he was satisfied at their growth Kanaye charged at full speed towards the red head.

The sand and metal fell to pieces when they contacted with the horns, any of the tentacles that tried to attack from the rear were always to slow to keep up with Kanaye, so instead they withdrew back into the ground and tried vainly to head off Kanaye from there. Gaara noticed what was going on and brought back the sand and metal closest to him, he made a two layer wall of his elements in an attempt to block his attack but only had enough sand to protect his front. At the speed that that Kanaye was going it would be impossible to attack him from anywhere else, he just hoped it held

Kanaye, annoyed by the wall, only sneered at the feeble attempt at self-preservation, with a flick of his wrist he willed a system of trees to sprout from the ground in a pattern that would allow him to ricochet off of them to charge at Gaara's rear flank.

Gaara noticed Kanaye's stratagem and desperately tried to move the sand behind him, but he knew it was much too late to do anything.

_(This will not end well…)_ Thought Gaara as he saw Kanaye jump off the first tree to his right, soon landing on a second tree that was poised to the final third tree directly behind him.

Kanaye had already jumped off the third tree and was now flying straight at him, his horns were only a meter away…

Gaara braced for impact…but he never felt it.

Naruto in all of his late-glory had exploded from the ground and grasped Kanaye's horns, directing them downward and implanting them firmly in the dirt.

"Lets see how you like your head stuck in the mud! Bastard!" Naruto turned to Gaara, "We have to get out of here; the village leader is coming in with reinforcements. We'll eventually be overrun if we don't leave _now_." Gaara simply raised an eyebrow to the statement, asking in his own way just exactly how were they gong to achieve _that_, Naruto simply smirked knowingly.

Kanaye snorted in anger at Naruto's comment and grunted as he inched his horns out bit by bit. When he had finally succeeded in escaping the Earthly snare he was absolutely floored when the blonde flicked his nose roughly and spoke to him as if he and Haru had traded places when he was giving the latter a good scolding.

"Look cow-face, I really don't wasn't to deal with your anger management issues right now since we're basically looking death at the face here. I need you to use the largest most god-like powerful jutsu in your arsenal to cover our tracks. But don't release it until I say so got it?"

A still flabbergasted Kanaye was almost going to nod when he was about to go into a tirade again, but had his nose flicked a second time with more force. He felt oddly, complacent…after that and mutely formed the seals for his attack. It was a fitting move, both elegant and everlasting at the same time, with the 'god-like' level of power the blonde wanted.

Speaking of said blonde, he was currently 'chakra threading' to find the clone he had dispatched earlier. It technique used by only the most advanced hunter ninjas to track the trace amounts of chakra residue left by a target, Jiraiya once knew a hunter kunoichi from Fang Country that had taught him the technique, it was an attempt to help him find Sasuke faster. So far it still had no luck…

"Found it." Gaara, who had been gathering his sands, was suddenly grasped by Naruto as the last bits of dust finished completing his gourd. Kanaye, who had been building chakra for the technique was also grabbed.

Naruto was strained a bit as the concentration he was using was beginning to wear on his mind. "Kanaye, release it, NOW!"

Kanye did as he was yelled at to do and released the chakra. "Wood Release Secret Technique: Birth of Dense Woodland"

As soon as he finished his line the group of four vanished in a flash of red, yellow, and brown.

An eruption of wood soon followed.

-

About five blocks away the remaining stockade of grass ninja was running towards the center of fighting. They were only one block when the area they were running to exploded in a fantastic show of green and brown.

"Yondaime-sama! The beast-!"

The grass leader yelled at his subordinates to retreat and to signal the rest to do so as well and evacuate the village, this thing was going to grow massive.

-

The ferret had to cross two rivers, three canyons, a ridiculously steep hill, avoid two hawks and an entire family of wildcats to get where he was now.

The only consolation it has was that his creator would go through everything he had just experienced as soon as he was released.

The bastard deserved it.

The ferret had decided to rest near a big shady rock that was conveniently placed out for him. It was nice and warm from the day's sun and there were no predators about so he could relax easy.

Or so it thought

The second it had found the coziest part to settle in, the seal on his back lit up and practically set his entire back on fire. In a matter of seconds his creator along with several others appeared in colored flashes of electricity. His creator was the first to stand up and looked around until his eyes settled on himself. He gave an appreciative nod and waved his hand.

The ferret knew no more.

-

As soon as the clone poofed out, Naruto grabbed his head in pain. "Ow…" It seemed the clone had bit of a bad day…oh well.

Gaara, who had been holding Haru, stood up slowly and settled the younger on the floor before wobbling away a couple feet and puked his guts out. Haru, ever oblivious to the events around him, slept like it was his job.

Kanaye was staring straight into the sky with swirls in his eyes from the crazy shit that had just happened to him.

The two recovered soon enough and both glared at their blonde acquaintance, he would have some explaining to do. But first, Haru.

Kanaye shakily walked to Haru and collapsed as soon as he reached him. He grabbed a shoulder and whispered him awake.

As if responding to his brothers presence, the young boy woke and yawned, before smiling and sitting up to look around him.

The nice man that gave him his ball back gave him a wave, while the other guy he met at the door simply nodded.

Haru cocked his head to the side in confusion, why were they here with his brother? "Uh, aniki…who are they?" Maybe big brother would know.

But Kanaye simply shrugged his shoulders and looked at the two strangers himself.

"That's what I want to know"

Naruto walked to the two brothers and offered his hand to them.

"Hey, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. The demon vessel of the nine tailed fox demon."

Their response was predictable.

-

The children groaned in disappointment when they had to be taken away to their homes. Their parents scolded them for whining and bowed in appreciation for taking care of the children.

Rai flamboyantly said that there was no need for thanks and that it was all in the name of the flames of youth…the stranger smiled, it was a typical Rock clan response. A loud growl interrupted his thought and inwardly groaned as he realized that he needed to eat. Rai, who had heard the curiously loud rumble, could not help but flash to his guest's side and pick him up without his consent.

The stranger did not have the time to act surprised as he was carried like a two year old back to his temporary residence, oh well; it saved him the energy of walking the way there.

In the back of his mind he could hear a tiny little voice scowling at him

_(Damn slacker…) _

He chose to ignore it, and waited for tomorrow.

- 


	5. Chapter 4: The Shark in the Trees

I don't own Naruto, now go read.

_The Greatest Escape! The Five-Finned Shark Kano!_

-

The stranger felt that today was going to be long day, especially since there was no school today and he had to wake up early like the day before. The children all around him were particularly hyper today; it seems that there was news of a visiting ninja with enormous power. There were many theories to who it was, but no one was sure until the shinobi chose to reveal himself.

The children were a bit put off when the new stranger made a strange smile when he heard the news. But visibly relaxed when he stopped his creepy smiling, and after his apology as well. Their temporary unease was set aside when Rai arrived to tell another chapter.

Rai gave off the signature Rock smile, infamous all over Konoha before telling the story.

-

The jungles of Rain country were quite annoying; it was hot, wet, stinky, and just plain creepy. Naruto's new fire techniques granted to him by the fox were now useless because of the countless water droplets in the air; and although Gaara's iron sand remained unaffected by the environment, he found that his regular sand quickly became mud and lost much of the blood retained by them. Kanaye seemed to be at peace here, there were tree's everywhere, the smells were so exotic, the water delicious, and the flora were strangely interesting. Haru…was asleep, he was still unaware that they had even pass the border, Naruto and Gaara asked Kanaye about that and he replied that Haru had always been like that, so there was no reason to be worried.

Interestingly enough Kanaye had joined, despite his hostile reaction beforehand. It was very difficult to lead him away from the path of a missing-nin and have him join the ranks of Yoinokuchi, Kanaye had the mindset of a bull; to go through any obstacle through sheer strength, and disregard any consequences that may come after. It took both Gaara's and Naruto's life stories to just so they could get his attention. Naruto was sure for a moment they wouldn't come, but it was thanks to Haru that they were together.

Naruto glanced at Haru, he was still asleep. Naruto couldn't help but smile at the kid's cuteness; he was just too innocent to not smile at. Naruto ever wondered if he and his kinsmen ever used to look that innocent at that age. Thinking back to the arguments of that night's debate over a week ago, Naruto highly doubted it.

-

---_Start flashback--- _

_"...And that is why we are here Kanaye." Naruto was slightly winded; it had taken him nearly six hours to retell the entire story from three years ago to today. Gaara was impressed that Naruto was able to complete the story on the same day he started it. Kanaye had a mask of indifference on his face, trying not to lead on his reaction of the two boys' stories show. Haru was looking like he just heard the best story ever in his entire young life, and most likely, he did. _

_Kanaye seemed to be outwardly unaffected, he hadn't made the slightest motion since Naruto began telling his sob story and remained just as cold when Gaara told his. "Quite a story, but I can't join you. And don't ask me why, I got my own reasons." Kanaye took a quick glance to Haru before focusing on the other two again, it had not gone unnoticed. _

_Naruto was about to explode on Kanaye for being a coward, but Gaara deiced to intervene before he did. "I can understand your worry for your own blood; I suffer the same burden as you. But what I do not understand is your blind faith in the village that just tried to kill you." _

_"I HAVE NO LOVE FOR THAT _ _DAMN_ _VILLAGE__!" Kanaye had snapped, he did not mean to, but it was the way of the ox inside him. "I mean, why would I care for that village?" _

_Gaara was the one to answer, Naruto decided it was best for him to stay silent. Gaara was the Kage with experience in debating after all. "Why are you unwilling to join us?" _

_Kanaye stiffened tensely for a moment, he was expecting the question, but was still unable to bring himself to say it. Kanaye then shot up and paced around for a bit, trying to find to find the right words to say. "It's just that..." Kanaye paused. "What I mean is...Just forget about it okay?" _

_This 'answer', if you can call it that was not satisfactory for the former Kazekage. "I am sorry Kanaye, but we can't. Akatsuki want **all** the biju, not just ourselves. If we stay separated as we are now we are sure that they will claim their goal. That cannot happen under any circumstances." _

_This subject Kanaye could handle, nobody was stronger than him after all. "They can try all they want, they will never catch me." _

_Gaara had noticed the sheer arrogance in Kanaye's voice. (This will not do, I have to rid him of such a weakness) "Know this Kanaye; they will try anything and everything they could to get you." Gaara then glanced at Haru, "Remember that. **Anything** and **everything**" _

_Kanaye growled out angrily. "Don't try to scare Haru you bas-I mean uh, meanie!" Kanaye blushed in embarrassment at the utterance, but kept a straight face nonetheless. Naruto forced himself as hard as he could not to laugh at the childish comeback. A blood-stained veteran shinobi; and the best he could come up with was 'meanie'? He wouldn't be able to breathe from the laughter if he began to do so. _

_Gaara raised an eyebrow at that. "Meanie?" His brow twitched once and his lips curved ever so slightly, it was the closest thing he ever came to laughter. _

_Kanaye's face blushed an even deeper shade of red. "Shut up, I don't allow cursing in front of Haru." Said Kanaye, who was now desperately trying to hide the deepening blush on his face. The coloring reminded Naruto of Hinata, of how she always seemed to flush red and faint around him. Why was that anyway? _

_Back to topic, the big guy didn't like to curse? Bullshit! Please don't excuse his language, Naruto had learned to curse long ago and was a permanent fixture in his still growing vocabulary. Kanaye had nothing short but cursed out his non-existent ancestors from out the grave, annoyed at the false remark Naruto scoffed haughtily at the statement. "You sure didn't show that when we first, met did ya Kanaye-san?" _

_Kanaye quickly turned to the blonde short-stop and looked at him straight in the eye. "What are you laughing at midget?" _

_Naruto's face turned deadly serious. "To put it simply, a coward on steroids who doesn't want to trust the only people who truly understand him." Naruto isn't the smartest of diplomats, hell he can't even talk himself out of trouble with his own 'family' back in Konoha, how would one expect him to win a formal debate? Although lacking in verbal eloquence, if there is one thing Naruto can do, its inspire. He can bring anyone from the depths from hell and bring them into the light, anyone...even demons. _

_"Ok, I've had it! Come here you stupid midget!" Kanaye had jumped at Naruto, intending to beat the thick skull of his into oblivion. _

_"Bring it on ya oversized hamburger!" Naruto jumped on Kanaye, with the same objective in mind as his opponent. But before they were able to do anything Gaara had stepped in and separated them with a wall of sand. _

_"Silence both of you! We are still dangerously close to the village, Kanaye you must come with us to at least heavily consider our proposal. I am still confused as why you have chosen not to go with us; I want to listen to your reasoning. " As Gaara was yelling at the two boys, Haru was looking at the two other jinchuuriki with awe, or was it admiration with a tint of hope? He was still amazed at how the sand moved like water in the air, and how Naruto was able to stand after Kanaye jumped him...No one was stronger than Kanaye, no one. He knew that Gaara and Naruto were just like his brother, they were demon vessels as well, but how strong are they really? They had so much in common with them, were hated and ignored, just like them...maybe...just maybe if they went with them they wouldn't fell alone anymore. They can act just like a real family, not like the pretend ones in his dreams... _

_"Look I don't want to go with you because of Haru, he can't make this trip! He is too young! If I was alone I would've went with you in less then a heartbeat! But with Haru here..." Kanaye drifted off, he had said enough. Looking at Haru he felt guilty, he knew he just destroyed his little brother's hope of having a real family, but he can't survive. And he knew he wouldn't survive without Haru around. Maybe as a missing-nin he wouldn't have to worry about him, he would be protected all the time. And he would never have to leave grass country... _

_"Well that's a lame excuse, don't you think we haven't already thought about that?" Stated Naruto, he was pretty sure what Kanaye was thinking about. The life of a missing-nin was tempting to all ninja who had lost it all, I mean who wouldn't take such a proposition? No rules, no restrictions, and money nearly everywhere you look, that is if you were both strong and smart enough to survive the life. _

_"What are you two talking about?" Kanaye knew he should be mad, hell he would've been furious at anyone who brushed Haru off like that, but the way this guy said it...He had something to give, something that would bring hope into his dark life. _

_"I can 'bond', for lack of a better word, Haru to you, **but** I need to see something first. Your seal, I need to see it first, otherwise I will have to use mine." _

_Kanaye was silent for a long moment, he was weighing out the pros and cons of the proposition. But doing anything too mentally challenging always hurt his head so he decided just to go with it. "Otouto, what do you think?" _

_Haru glanced at Kanaye then looked at both Gaara and Naruto. With the brightest smile he should muster he gave his answer. "Lets do it Kanaye-Nissan; I want a real family now." _

_Kanaye nodded and took off his vest, he turned so his back was facing Naruto to show him his seal. It was not too complex; it was composed of three rings, the first of which were only and inch wide to write some illegible kanji. In the largest space there were two triangles with lines connecting each bottom two corners with each other. In one of the triangles there was the symbol, for spirit, in the other there was wall. _

_Naruto nodded and took a step back; he folded his legs and closed his eyes before saying one last thing. "Okay can you give me a sec? I got to talk with the Kitsune no baka (Idiot Fox) in here for a second opinion on you seal." _

_In a flash his mind left one world and entered another. _

_- _

_In the dark and steaming catacombs of Naruto's navel, Kyuubi was watching the entire conflict from outside. It looks like the two brats finally found an even-tailed biju. But it was confused, why was its vessel treated like its own? The six tails is no where near as corrupt as even the one-tail, let alone one like himself…what kind of event would lead to the confinement of the forest spirit? It seems this journey would prove more interesting than he first thought… _

_Humph, it seems that his own brat is still weak in the mind, what a weak fool. He had given the insect the ability to render all those annoying illusions ineffective and a plethora of fire jutsu implanted into his tiny **human** brain, and still he asks for more! If its own survival didn't rely on the **human's** life, he would have tortured the idiot in nine different levels of hell by now. But alas, he could not… _

_Yet. _

_Naruto felt a chill go down his spine as he neared the cage, which was strange since it was so humid at Kyuubi's prison. He also noticed that the sewer system suddenly had more lanterns hung around about the walls, but brushed it off as nothing. He was about to yell out the bastard fox when two red orbs opened wide just in front of him. He undoubtedly knew what was going on, seeing the annoyed look on its face, so he decided to keep his visit short and to the point. (Well furry?) _

_The fox growled in anger at the name, but bit back its tirade. The more solitude it got the better, he didn't wasn't his project to be discovered just yet**. IT IS SUFFICIENT, THE RITUAL WILL WORK ON THIS SEAL, BUT FIRST ASK HIM WHAT THIS SEAL IS. I BELIEVE I RECOGNIZE THIS CERTAIN…SYMBOL. **_

_Naruto raised an eyebrow in question, but didn't question why. It wasn't like the fox would tell him anyway. (…All right) Naruto returned to the outside world and looked at Kanaye. _

_ "Hey, Kanaye, what seal is this? The fox-teme wants to know, but don't worry it will be enough to let the 'bond' work." _

_Kanaye slipped his head to one side at the unexpected question; then stared into the sky silence. _

_… _

_ "It is called the Twin Pyramids Seal" He said at last. _

_Naruto was about to reenter his seal again when he felt a jolt on his forehead, the fox had heard, and didn't feel like wasting it's breath on him. _

_Fine, he needed to concentrate anyway. _

_"All right Kanaye lets get to work..." _

_---End flashback--- _

_- _

The ritual had been a success, Kanaye's seal was not a superbly complex one like Naruto's, but it was not incomplete like Gaara's either. Kanaye's seal prohibited him from getting stronger chakra-wise; it had forced his body to cripple his chakra reserves so it would only develop as far as a normal thirteen year old would. He was like Lee in a way, unable to fully utilize Chakra, and solely relied on taijutsu. But the seal did allow one way for Kanaye to achieve more chakra, and that was to lose hold of the biju inside him.

The bonding of the seal between the two brothers had created an anomaly, if one of the brothers were to release the six-tails from their end of the seal; the other brother would have no access to the powerful beast's chakra. They would be in essence, cut off, from the other as the seal would disappear completely from their bodies for as long as the other was in his demonic state.

But if the seal was not released, both brothers benefited greatly, at least in Kanaye's opinion. Kanaye himself had gain no strength or power from the bonding, but he had received something far more important to him. The bond now allowed him to 'feel' Haru, which basically meant he knew where he was and how he was holding out at anytime he wanted. It was a burden welcomingly lifted as Kanaye could now always keep an eye on his little brother. That was enough for him.

Haru, however, seemingly became another person overnight, which was sort of expected. Haru's physical strength had multiplied nearly a dozen-fold, giving him strength that supasses even Gaara's, but still pale in comparison to that of Naruto or his older brother. His intelligence had risen to the point that he was now smarter that of Naruto and Kanaye, but he had still not reached Gaara's level. His speed was on par with that of Gaara's and Naruto's but was still decades away from what his older brother had achieved, and like his brother, Haru had also developed a fondness for cursing as well...much to Kanaye's dismay.

Currently, the group was walking slowly deeper within the borders of Rain country, the trees began to bend more, and the plants began to twist in oddly interesting shapes. The fauna began to change as well; they saw creatures similar to monkeys swing around from tree to tree hunting and gathering their own food. Kanaye had caught one with surprising ease, and cooked it for a large dinner. It was a strange animal, it was hybrid between a colorful bird and fanged monkey…regardless it tasted great, if Gaara's satisfied humming was any indication. Little Haru was so satisfied that he had fallen asleep, and was currently being held in Gaara's gourd.

Naruto, after dinner explained what they were going to do next.

"We are going to the rain country, like the mist they specialize in water-based jutsu's, you two will be a key element in this country. Only you and your brother have any durable defense against water. My fire and Gaara's sand will quickly fall to water so you're primary role is defense and cover. Unlike your village I know about the jinchuuriki in this village. Remember Aoi? One of his followers leaked out some interesting information about one of our kind in their village. He is being held like a slave, inside a mental asylum being continuously told that his demon is a figment of his imagination, so we have to watch our words carefully when at his presence."

Gaara and Kanaye found them selves trembling with growing rage rage, neither knew it at the time but they were subconsciously sinking deeper and deeper in their belief to save all jinchuuriki everywhere. Their instinctual need of survival mixed with their desire to meet others like them boiled into a new feeling, they wanted to find these people…and protect them.

Haru had heard all of this and had stiffened at Naruto's words, he had been awake since Naruto began talking...he knew if he decided to 'wake up' he would only slow the group down, so he decided to listen in the conversation. He wondered if a Kami (god) had intentionally waked him up to hear this, after all he was usually a _very_ heavy sleeper, how did he wake up just now?

"How long have you been up Haru?"

Haru shrieked in surprise, he wasn't suspecting to be caught; his evident shock of this amused the three shinobi accompanying him. Haru pouted, and Gaara took it upon himself to explain, after all he was the one who 'exposed' Haru, he might as well tell why.

"Do not feel so bad little one, we are all experienced shinobi, we are trained to see through deception, our demons only aid us in our teachings so it is futile to try and lie to us. Would you care to answer my previous inquisition?"

Haru reddened slightly in embarrassment at the blunt statement; it was painfully obvious how crude his attempt at gathering info was when Gaara spoke like that. "Hell Gaara, don't sneak up on me like that or anything all right? And besides, I was only up for the past five fucking minutes or something..."

Gaara's eyebrow twitched at the language but nodded nonetheless. "Eventually you will learn how to sense things around you child, you may have grown in strength but you have yet to polish it onto decent use. Skill must be earned, not given. Naruto, you may continue please."

Naruto then went into an extremely in-depth detailing of the plan he thought up, which was strange since considering it could have been easily explained with basic quick wording. Coincidentally, if anyone who knew Naruto saw him explaining a seemingly flawless plan such as the one he is detailing now, they would attack him without a moment's hesitation.

For years Naruto had played the fool, he was seen as an inept subordinate with a loud mouth that was only surpassed in since by its own ego. All who thought of the blonde would never make a connection to intelligence, with his brazen attitude and almost absolute zero understanding of words with more than three syllables long, it was no wonder that many were simply astounded at the level ability he could display as a ninja. Courageous, ferocious, trustworthy, and just as intelligent as that of a five-year-old with ADD…such was the portrait of the old Uzumaki Naruto.

This new Naruto was much more different than his former self. He was much quieter to unfamiliar people and spoke freely only around his brethren, thanks to Kyuubi's meddling he had become a proficient strategist, and he started to keep a calm head when needed during battle. But Naruto was not completely redone, he still searches within himself to pull of some half-ass scheme that will turn out to be some miracle, and he still had the determination that even gods envy. He had become colder, more calculative, and surprisingly calm…but he was still the #1 most surprising ninja ever.

He was becoming closer and closer to be the greatest shinobi in the world, and thus closer to his dream.

-

_From the intelligence that I can remember, the village is suspended in the canopy of the forest, so we have to climb the trees. There's a seal on the trees so chakra scaling is a no, we will have to use kunai to force-climb our way up half-way then use Gaara's sand the rest of the to sneak in quietly. We will need all the chakra we can get if things get…complicated. _

It was quiet, more so than anyone suspected, and that posed as a problem. Too much quiet leads to making too much sound, too much sound means getting caught…which is not good. If the group gets caught they will have to resort to Naruto's trump card, which also won't be good. Hopefully they won't get caught, but that would be easer said than done; Hidden Rain was a strange village, it was like all other ninja villages that use the terrain of their lands to protect themselves...unavoidable and annoying.

Just as the Stone have carved their village inside the very mountains they reside in, the Sand had placed their own village so deep into the nation that only the most experienced of shinobi can sneak in without falling victim to the harsh sun, the Leaf used the cliffs and forest to make a geological net to slow down and weave their enemies to their clutches, the snow use their skills in technology to create a indestructible barrier of ice and snow around and over their village, the Mist use the swampy terrain of their homes to place countless of undetectable traps everywhere to hopefully kill all their enemies, the grass plant fields of poisonous flowers around their home to intoxicate their attackers, Cloud had built huge towers around the cliffs that protect them to send a heavy rain of electrified blades to cut their foes down, the Waterfall have their curtain of water and narrow passageways to slow down and to overwhelm their enemies, no one knows what type of terrain the sound resides in…all spies sent in always end up dead.

But Amekagure, the village hidden in the rain, was just plain strange, they have built their village on the canopy in the very jungle they live in. Their buildings are supported by a complex system of rope and walkways to connect the various building to each other. Under the village is a thick blanket of strange pollen, Gaara had said that reports of the pollen told that, when inhaled, can completely invade ones peripheral and central nervous systems. Once inside the toxins within the pollen would circulate within the blood and diffuse through the blood-brain barrier to enter the cerebral-spinal fluid, the toxins would attack the cerebellum, both primary and secondary motor systems of the cerebrum, and most of the peripheral nervous system…hindering, if not removing all capability of movement. It is the very reason why most rain-nin have oxygen re-breathers to protect themselves from their own natural defenses, the rest, particularly the older generation, usually build a natural immunity to the pollen.

Getting pass the cloud of pollen was easy; Gaara had made them all temporary helmets made of sand that covered the entire area of their face. It was sneaking around the village that was the hard part. The trees that the Rain lived in were chakra-reinforced to last longer, and were surrounded by a self-sustaining jutsu that prevented them from catching fire and disrupted any ninja 'tree climbing'. So jumping from tree to tree was out of the question, the walkways were wide enough to let only two people cross at the same time, and they needed to preserve chakra to infiltrate the asylum, so they couldn't just walk there without getting caught. Luckily for them, being genjutsu users, Rain-nin were rarely more than their illusions, and thus fairly weak.

With all other options cut off, the group of four were forced to jump from rooftop to rooftop on very creaky housing, normally this wouldn't be a problem but with the lack of background sound and the number of energy-consuming jumps that had to be performed...it was quickly becoming quite the handicap.

CREAK!

Naruto winced as he had stepped on a particularly old wooden board, how the rain lived in such poor housing he'll never know, but it was becoming a very irritable inconvenience. He turned to his comrades and gave a signal to watch for that board, the said group nodded in confirmation. Naruto then sniffed around, jinchuuriki always had a unique scent of burned bones because of their demon, and they also had a scent classifying their demon. Gaara had the scent of sand and blood, with a little bit of cinnamon; most likely from his sister and brother, they both had a strong scent of cinnamon around them. Kanaye and Haru had the scent of fresh-cut spring flowers with a fair bit of aged wood, Naruto himself had the scent of burning charcoal and the unique scent of ramen.

Right now, he had found the burned bones smell, it was surrounded by...something, but he couldn't tell, the air is too thick to define anymore smells. Naruto made a series of hand signal and then pointed to the second largest building in the entire canopy village. The rest of the group nodded and sprung into action.

-

Above our demon host was the mysterious voyeur, recording their events with the same eerie smile he always wore.

"Time for the first meeting" The strange watcher was then surrounded by shadow, a shadow that soon disappeared, leaving no evidence to show where that it was ever there in the first place. Soon after the disappearance, the same shadow spring to life inside a cell right where Yoinokuchi's target lay asleep.

-

A small figure dashed about the narrow corridors of the sterile building that was the asylum. It would occasionally stick its head out to look for incoming threats before returning to hiding behind anything it could find. When it heard a pair of feet walking ever closer to him, he looked around to spot anything to hide behind, finding nothing and unable to think of any other solution, the figure jumped. The figure listened closely for the coming person, and could not help think of its mission, although the sneaking around it had to do was quickly getting old, it could not help but feel giddy to see the end results of his work.

_Once we're all in we'll split up into three groups. Haru, you're going to play a really important role so listen well. Me and Gaara will infiltrate the asylum and try to quietly remove all opposition and retrieve our brother; Haru I need you to set up distractions around the hospital. In other words, make as many explosions as humanly possible. Here are some explosive notes, have fun making things go boom! _

Haru held his breath as another doctors passed him; and held the packet of explosive notes possessively. He had already put three in the kitchen area near the gas valves, two in the ventilation systems that prevented the pollen from down below from entering the building, and five on the main water valves to stop all hope of dying out the inevitable flames. All he had to do now was plant one explosive note in each of the storage rooms, where all the flammable stuff was, that would help spread the fire more quickly.

_(Now!) _

Haru landed on the floor silently as the last person left the hallway; he ran down the corridor until he found a storage room and looked around one last time before he opened the door behind him. It was dimly lit and cool, a perfect place to hold dangerous things in vials and beakers, Haru took a quick scan around the small-ish room to search for a good place to hide the note.

_(There! That's the perfect place.) _

Haru went to the flammable chemicals and placed the note under a huge box full of the stuff. It easily matched his heights and was more than double his width, not that he himself was big but…

Haru's discovery was cut short as he heard the door open and saw two nurses walk in, _(Shit! Gotta hide!) _Haru looked around for a hiding spot and quickly jumped to the first spot he saw before he was caught.

The two nurses didn't even sense him! Haru thanked all the gods that were out there, he was blessed that these were regular villagers thinking it was okay to sneak away, Haru began scaling the ceiling to the exit. He was almost there when he head the nurses taking again.

"So are you going out with him?"

Haru paused, this was an interesting conversation, Haru would never admit it but he loved to spread gossip. Maybe because it was the only way he was able to talk with other people from the outside besides his brother back at his former 'home'.

"No way! He's just too creepy, have you seen what he does when he fights? It horrifying!" Ah, the 'Too evil looking for my taste' bit, he heard many times before against his big brother.

"True, anyway lets get this over with, I have to go do the weekly check-up with the demon-child" The girl twisted her face when she said 'demon', and unknowingly got a spot on Haru's 'must get revenge' list. Currently, only she and the entirety of Hidden Grass were on it.

The other girls face became sympathetic to her friend, she knew how creepy it was to go down to the sublevels of the hospital, it was dank and nasty…but such was the price to pay for the good salary and clearance to go down there. "Ooh sucks to be you, so where's the box we're looking for?"

"It should be right here...Ah here it is!" Haru blanched, for in the young village girls arms was the box he had placed the explosive tag on.

"What's that note on the bottom?" Asked the first girl, the second girl then turned the box around to see a very strange note attached to it.

"I don't know...What does it say?"

"It says 'seal'"

"Is it the wrong box?"

The girl raised the box over their heads to confirm the label of the box with the number on the clipboard in her friend's hand that she had memorized; this action had handily blocked her view from her friend. "Nope, the numbers match up...lets take it to the doctor, maybe he knows what it is..." The girl then turned around to look at her friend, she wasn't there.

"Kana?" No answer.

"Kana?" Still no answer.

"Kana this isn't funny come out right now!" The girl was a word away from screaming bloody murder, Haru decided he should knock her out as well before she got hysterical and shouted out his existence.

"Boo" Was all the girl heard when she felt a blunt metal object hit her head.

Haru caught the girl before she fell, remembering silence was the one of the most importance of being a ninja, it was quite amazing to him that he was literally given this skill of his. He felt like a cheap rip-off, he didn't work for this skill, he just got it. _(I'll talk about this to the rest of the guys later...)_

Haru then disappeared, determined to finish his part of the plan.

-

Kanaye was waiting, that's all he had to do for the moment. Wait. Well wait until the signal, and after that he had to wait some more. He had to wait for everything to start 'going boom' as Haru put it and then wait for his team to reach him. Then the real fun starts. Kanaye wondered just how he was going to do his job, blondie was kind of vague on his part.

_Alright meat-head, your best asset is your muscle, so that's what you're gonna be. Rain nin are just as physically weak as grass shinobi. So if you can beat the crap out of them, these guys will pose no threat to you. Just watch out for their illusions, knock them out before they get a chance to use them. Either way, your job is to make sure there's an escape route for us to use, so smash up any guys that may not let that happen. Try not to look too suspicious securing an exit, ninja are naturally paranoid so they'll swarm us as soon as we slip up. Wait until we are in you sights before you star breaking things and people. But don't do ANYTHING until the explosions start got it? _

So smash things and people eh? That will be fun…but for now he waited, and waited...and waited.

_(Man, waiting is fucking gay...) _

_- _

Gaara and Naruto stalked around as quickly as they could without getting caught. Though it was not really necessary, there was no ninja in the building and any crazy people that saw them would be completely ignored, would you ever believe in a crazy person who thinks that flying purple hippos exist? I didn't think so.

As both Naruto and Gaara rounded another corner, something caught Naruto's eye.

"Gaara stop."

Gaara looked questionably at Naruto, whom pointed at a nearby potted plant.

"That is the rare plant 'heaven's blessing,' it can only be found in lightning country, and that's because it's all mostly tundra. This plant would not be able to survive the extreme humidity of this place, it is not meant for such climates. Something or someone is here."

As Naruto finished his explanation, two ninja's popped out, wearing the Amegakure ANBU uniform. Instead of the white armor and blackbody suites of Konoha, these ANBU wore no armor, and wielded a silver version of the umbrella like all of the other rain-nin.

"You must be very learned in the art of botany to pick that out young one."

Naruto smirked, "Well, it is my favorite hobby, aside from eating ramen of course. But we are not here for small talk, Gaara, if you please?"

"Gladly"

The ninja jumped out of the way as a volley of shuriken passed through them. While most were dodged, the narrow corridor allowed some of sand weapons to hit, stunning some of the ninja.

Naruto took advantage of this distraction to attack the enemy ninja. They needed to be subdued before an alarm could be raised; as such he made a shadow clone and performed the perfect textbook kill: breaking each of the ninja's necks.

"Humph, the rain-ninja were pathetic."

"Yeah, but no time to dwell on that now, we got a comrade to save." Naruto told the clones to hide the bodies as best they could, they didn't want to leave breadcrumbs behind them.

"Right."

Naruto and Gaara ran down the corridor, continuing the search for their new comrade.

-

The mysterious watcher was waiting for Gaara and Naruto to appear. He was waiting for them because he wanted to reveal himself to them. Even though he was irritated with their lateness, he still kept that strange smile on his face.

Finally his waiting was rewarded when the two said jinchuuriki's appeared. He wanted to reveal himself then and there, but decided against it, he would wait until they are done. Like he did in poker, he had to use his cards right, and when he did, all he had to do was kick back and relax. And that _is_ what he did best.

It was a few minutes until the boys were finished, the stranger smiled even brighter, it was finally time to reveal himself.

_(Well now it gets interesting.)_

_- _

Gaara and Naruto had reached their destination, it was the lowest level in the asylum, there was supposedly no one here, or allowed to be here because of unsanitary conditions. Well for regular people that is, Naruto inwardly fumed at the extremities that these people went through to keep their 'demon' caged.

Gaara himself was feeling the exact same thing, every time they increased the numbers of their brethren, Gaara gained another reason to exist other than killing, he was gaining precious people to protect. Sure it was a selfish reason, but it was a noble one as well.

Pushing all feelings aside, the two jinchuuriki's opened the door to save their, hopefully, soon-to-be ally. What they saw disgusted them. The person there could only be defined as 'dying'. It doesn't look like he had ever seen light or the sky his entire life, his stomach was almost non-existent, his hair was more closely resembled to weeds rather than grass, and his eyes were as hollow as if he was blind.

Gaara was ready to explode, he was just waiting to find an excuse to kill every-single rain-nin in existence. They kill someone? They die! They steal something? They die! They sneezed on you? They die! Naruto wasn't much better, but controlled himself so he could save his new brethren. Naruto then took a deep breath and calmly walked to the nearly dead jinchuuriki.

"Hey there...What's your name?"

No answer.

"I am not of the rain; I am a friend, someone to help you"

Still no answer.

Naruto looked at Gaara for some help, the former Kazekage, made a motion on his legs, as if he was chained. Naruto then looked at the other boy, who was indeed chained. Naruto inspected the chains a bit, they were old and rusty, thus were easily breakable. Doing a few seals Naruto summoned a clone, who then did a henge to turn into a katana. Naruto grabbed the katana by the hilt, oblivious to the chained boys stare. A few swipes later, and the boy was free. Gaara then took this opportunity to grab some rations he had left and offered them to the boy, a quick grab and the boy was eating at an inhumane manner and pace. Both Naruto and Gaara waited until the boy had finished before they tried again.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto, and this is my ally Gaara of the sand. We are brethren to each other. And to you if you want to, what is your name my fellow brethren?"

The boy looked at his two saviors long and hard before he gave an answer, "Do you have water?" His voice was old and raspy, seemingly unused for decades.

Naruto nodded and pulled out a canteen from his belt and offered it to the boy, the boy quickly downed it all in one gulp and gave out a long sigh. " Kano...Our name...is Kano"

Naruto smiled, they were making progress, slow progress, but progress nonetheless "Well, Kano, we are here to get you out of here. No one deserves to be in this dump"

Kano was still unconvinced about these people, what made them different from the rest? "Why do you want to help us? We are in a mental asylum after all."

Naruto gave is trademark fox grin "Because we know you and your friend do not belong in here, you are one of us, a fellow jinchuuriki"

Now Naruto held Kano's attention, he was. Naruto smiled and stood awaiting his reply, all he got was Kano staring at him, searching for even the smallest of hints to see it was a lie. Kano's hopes were raised and crushed to many times to be accounted for; he does not want to let it happen again. "Prove it; prove that you are like us"

Naruto and Gaara nodded, Naruto lifted his shirt to expose his belly and Gaara did the same with his hair to expose his 'love' seal. They both focused their chakra on their seals to show it to Kano. As the seals became visible and started to glow, Kano himself stood and focused his own chakra, causing his own seal to appear. It was on his forehead, his face, and apparently all over his skull, but his hair hid that theory. It was a very complex design of hundreds of kanji symbols, circles, arrows, wave-like marks, and curved triangles minus one side that resemble a fin of some kind.

"Our demon is the fifth biju, an Isonade. We are the Five Finned Shark Demon."

"A shark? I didn't expect that, maybe a monkey with all these trees, but not a shark. Why would a shark come over here?"

"Our shark wanted to drown the forest, to make a vast ocean all for our own. If you let us escape we can make our ocean! Please! We must drown the trees!" Kano was now slowly changing to his half-shark state. Fins were appearing on his head, shoulders, and back. His eyes started to go pitch black, his teeth grew another set behind his first ones and sharpened when they finished. Gills grew on his neck and his ears disappeared, his hair shrunk into his skin, and his skin changed texture until it was like sandpaper.

Naruto narrowed his eyes on this jinchuuriki; the vessel was obviously not in control. The demon has seemingly took over, but there is no power resonating from the body, but that couldn't be, could it?

Naruto looked closer on the seal, it looked complex, but maybe it was weak? Naruto decided to refer to Kyuubi on it, and soon found himself on the familiar setting of Kyuubi's sewer-seal.

-

The all-too familiar scene of the sewer system in his mind was the first thing that came to his senses; just before the absolutely nasty stench of the dirtied water below him. Shaking off the unpleasant elements, Naruto treaded through the water up to the impressive seal of Kyuubi. He tried to see the fox but could not see a trace of the giant beast; it must be working on some project in the back or something. _(Hey idiot-fox! Where the hell are you?!) _

The said demon stalked up to the front of the gate and leered angrily at the blonde.** RRR, DON'T CALL ME THAT YOU IMPUDENT WHELP! AND WHY THE HELL DID YOU COME HERE? YOU COULD HAVE JUST USED YOUR THIRD EYE!**

_(What do I care what you think? Besides, talking to an eye makes me look weird…and it feels stupid to do so.)_

**JUST SHUT UP AND TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT MEAT-BAG, I WANT TO SLEEP.**

_(That seal all over his head...how strong is it?) _

**ARE YOU SERIOUS KID? THAT SEAL IS WORSE THAN THAT SAND KID! THERE IS NOTHING HOLDING BACK THE BIJU FROM TAKING OVER THE KID! QUITE FRANKLY I'M JEALOUS HE HAS IT. BUT IT DOES RESTRAIN HIS POWER MORE THAN THE SEAL I HAVE, SO IF YOU DARE IMPLEMENT THAT SEAL I WILL EAT YOU. **

Naruto waved his hand at the fox as he contemplated the info. _(A seal that sacrifices the demons power for control huh? That just might be the edge I need...Later fox, I'll call you when I need you.) _

Kyuubi crashed against his cage in self-righteous anger. **INSOLENT BUG! DO YOU THINK I'M SOME MAID TO COME AT YOUR SERVICE! IF I WAS OUT OF THIS SEAL I WOULD SEVER YOUR GENIT- **

Naruto ignored the demon's bickering and walked away slowly waving his middle finger to the fox as he treaded out of his navel and into the real world. _(Later Fox) _

_- _

Naruto then found himself talking to Kano, or what he believed to be Kano, it was quite easy to tell that the jinchuuriki was not in control of his own demon.

"So, ' Kano', who are you really?"

The strange being widened his eyes but suddenly smirked, it didn't think it would be found out so soon. "**VERY GOOD GAKI, IT SEEMS THE ONE WHO SMELLS OF THE FOX, HAS GAINED THE FOX'S CLEVERNESS, I APPLAUD YOU NINGEN."**

"You are not it a position to insult us demon." Gaara stated "We can easily destroy you where you stand."

**"FOOL! I AM THE GREAT ISONADE! THE LORD OF THE ENDLESS OCEANS! WHAT DO YOU, A PATHETIC HUMAN, HOPE DO TO AGAINST ME?" **

_(Damn, ego much? I haven't heard someone gloat this much since Sasuke_...)"Well fish-bait, I can fry you with the fire of the Kyuubi" Naruto made a point to ignite his hand on fire. "Or Gaara here can drown you with a sea of sand." As he said that sand started to pour out of Gaara's gourd, the isonade was starting to sweat, they were calling his bluff…but they still didn't know that his power was restrained so he still tried to delude his way out of the confrontation.

**"PATHETIC HUMANS! DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE YOU HOLD THE POWER TO DESTROY AN UNRESTRAINED BIJU! HA! I LAUGH AT YOUR INSOLENCE!" **

"You wouldn't be laughing once I tell you that I know that your seal restrains your power but not your mind, thus making you unbelievably weak, even by human standards."

The isonade stayed silent, it knew it was beat. Naruto took advantage of his victory and tried to weasel out a compromise.

"But I have a proposition for you sharky, one that will give you back your power." The isonade looked up it surprise, being a demon it gave up all rational thought at the prospect for more power. "All you have to do is let me change your seal a bit...then all your former power will return to you. So do we have a deal?"

The isonade didn't answer right away, it just stared at Naruto dumbly for a moment. **"HMM...THIS IS A VERY INTERESTING PROPOSITION NIGEN, WHAT DO YOU WISH IN RETURN. I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE GIVING ME MY POWER FOR NOTHING AFTER ALL...NOT EVEN A HUMAN IS THAT STUPID."**

"Guess I'm caught then, all I want is your cooperation."

**"MY COOPERATION?" **

Naruto began to explain everything he knew that was related to Akatsuki, when he mentioned Kisame and his Samehada, there Isonade grew furious. What kind of pathetic mortal would dare insult him and his faithful servant by taking their appearance and name! It was inexcusable in the demons eyes. Naruto was then fairly confident that he had the shark under his thumb

"So what do you say shark?"

**"NINGEN, YOU GOT YOURSELF A SHARK." **

"Good, Gaara come over here I need your help with the seal..."

-

Haru was bored; he had made it to the rendezvous point. He had been waiting for the past ten minutes; he was also surprised that no one has found out about the two girls he knocked out. He was pretty sure that they would've been found by now.

Tick!

Another minute has passed, that meant there was only two more left before everything went boom, he couldn't wait. Haru had always like it went things went boom.

"Haru!" Whispered a voice.

"Eek!" Haru jumped in surprise, he had taken out a kunai and had launched it behind him. "Who the hell-oh its you guys, what up? Is that our new hell-raiser?"

Naruto and Gaara had returned, and with an unconscious Kano hung over Naruto's back, and an irate Gaara with a kunai suspended in sand just in front of his crotch area.

Gaara nodded in confirmation and whapped Haru over the head before giving him the kunai back. "Yes, this is our new ally Kano. We would have returned earlier but his seal needed alteration. Now Haru-san will you do the honors?"

Haru's hands flashed for a second, and multiple explosions could then be heard. "Already did."

-

Kanaye was _still_ waiting.

He had heard the explosions; it was kind of impossible, the only reason he was actually having coherent though was because the explosions woke him up from the very pleasant nap he was having. But he still couldn't do anything since he couldn't see the others yet. So he stayed where he was…waiting.

And waiting, and-

"You! Stay where you are!" A group of Rain-nins have appeared, looking thoroughly frantic and pissed that someone decided to attack them. A few of them sported minor bruises and burns, a testimony to his little brother's handiwork with the explosive notes. Kanaye then decided to actually take the time to look around him, the whole village seemed like a jungle versions of Hell-on-Earth. Trees were burning, people were screaming, and a bunch of angry people with huge killing intent were everywhere.

Oddly enough, he felt right at home.

Well it was time to beat the crap out of people, he contemplated if he should go easy on them or go al-out and rip them a new set of body holes.

"Hey he looks like that punk-ass kid that blew up the hospital! Get him!"

Well, that was quickly decided...

-

"AAAAAaaaaahhhh!"

An inhumane scream echoed throughout the trees in Amegakure, it came from Kanaye's, direction. Meaning whoever was there was getting savagely beaten in to an indescribable bloody hamburger.

Naruto sighed; he really didn't need this right now, especially after what happened in Kano's room now awhile ago...with that weird guy, or was it a girl? Oh well, that weird person scared the hell out of him. That person has been watching him since after the incident at Konoha; that means he knows his intention, his goals, and his reasons.

Who wouldn't be scared once they learned about that? It was if he had some crazy psycho-pervert stalking him adoringly…ugh, he got himself his own Orochimaru, that was nasty…

Naruto decided to cut off his thoughts as what can only be described as ripped-up ground beef flew right passed his head._(Damn, Kanaye is going over-board, we better hurry up and leave if we want to get away.)_

Another blob of hamburger flew by, _(Man, What did the rain do to piss off Kanaye so much?)_ Gaara was having similar thoughts while Haru was just nodding in understanding, the connection between them made them nearly telepathic, being able to understand what the other felt.

It didn't take a minute for the troop of four reached their destination, it was not bloody like one would expect; especially with all the detached human body parts flying past people's heads, but the area was still drenched in the scent of life-giving liquid.

"Hey Kanaye! Where the hell are you? We got to get out of here!" Cried Haru

A very blood-coated Kanaye popped up from behind Haru and gave a very Kakashi-like answer. "Yo"

Haru screamed in surprise, Gaara remained stoic but you could see a hint of amusement in his eyes. Naruto was silent, his eyes staring at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. Kanaye reminded him so much from the life he had left behind, he wondered if Team 7 was still around, what would Kakashi-sensei be teaching Sakura now?

"Naruto? Yo Naruto! Let's go already!" Naruto snapped his head up; he turned around to see his allies, his _new_ friends, his _own_ family waiting for him. They could never replace the ones he had back in Konoha, but they gave him reason to keep going forward, and that's all he ever really needed.

"Right" Now was not the time to remember lost friends; he had to take care of his new friends now. He had to worry for them, and worry about the weird person with the strange smile...He looked to Gaara, who felt his gaze and nodded without ever looking right at him. They would have to tell Kanaye and Haru about the strange voyeur, he might cause problems later on. But not now, now they had to get past the entire ANBU branch of Amegakure. Naruto placed Kano on one of the more studier branches on the tree he was on. And prepared for a fight, when he left Konohagakure all those days ago, he wouldn't have dared to go against any ANBU member of any village...But then again, that was before he made the pact with his fox.

Now it was playtime

-

The mysterious figure was still in the basement cell that held Kano; if possible, his strange smile was bigger than usual. He then spoke three words to no one in particular, or someone that no one else saw but himself.

"Checkmate, I win"

And with that he disappeared.

-

The children smiled happily when they were called for dinner, visions of delicious foods from their mother entering their minds. With a smile and a wave, Rai and the stranger left to eat as well, telling the children to meet back here when they were done.

Once they were gone, Rai and the stranger left for the inn, they had to hurry; children could eat as fast as any member of the Akimichi family.

-**Pulse? Check. Breathing? Check. Stomach? Check. Ability to concievethought? Gotta get back on that one.**

**Anyway, its nice to see you again people! Tanks for the two reviews, sure it ain't much but I am a humble man, don't need to much stuff to live on. Yo! F00l3Al2 there are 12 animals on the chinese zodiac, but I'mpretty sure that Naruto is Japanese...and in the anime there is only nine biju...If the animals I'm using confuse you then I'm sorry for doing that. And Dragon Man, though I respect you for trying to save your brother from cursing, give it up I swear. One way or another they will learn it, and after they do then well, prepare yourself for contest to see who can curse the fastes/most/loudest/ etc..Trust me I speak from experience.**

**Well, until next ime people, later.**


	6. Chapter 5: Do You Trust Me?

_**I don't own Naruto...Damn**_

_**Intentions Revealed! Sowing The Seeds Of Trust!**_

-

Their vision was blurred as the two people dashed through the rooftops of the village as fast as they could, clothing lines became springs for them as they slingshot themselves off of the them to reach their at an even faster pace. When the rooftops ended and they were forced to run in the streets, the two runners displayed an impressive performance of acrobatics and flexibility as they avoided running into people, carts, and livestock alike.

At one point Rai had to balance on his fingers to avoid hitting a pregnant woman carrying her groceries. When she had successfully moved out of the way she offered him a dumpling for his quick reaction, Rai was all too eager to accept seeing he had a quick lunch, but was just as quickly taken away when the visiting guest lassoed his arm around Rai's head and dragged him away at breakneck speed; finally reaching their destination in ten seconds flat. The children, their bellies satisfied for now, grinned happily when they arrived.

Rai moped about his lost meal some more before continuing from where he left off.

-

In the depths of Rain country there was a small encampment surround an even smaller fire. The fires small size gave little warmth to the already humid environment and provided even less smoke from its size, its only purpose was to provide light, and even then it held no use as the suns rays began to pierce through the giant trees. When the first lights broke through and touched the encampment, a fire died a cold death by drowning.

All was calm in the encampment, its inhabitants had had a decent nights sleep and were well prepared for the day's journey to come. One particular blue-haired individual was still blissfully asleep when the peace of the surrounding area was so rudely interrupted.

(BOOM!)

The person snapped his eyes awake at the commotion, what was THAT? Better yet, WHERE was he? It wasn't his home; it was much too…too…what was the word? The blue-haired person thought hard about

…

Oh yeah, nice. It was too nice…

Wait…

The blue haired person stood in complete shock at what he had just realized; how in the world did he get here? Where was he and why did he just collapse on the floor?

The person stared stupidly at his own body, it was clothed differently. He didn't have his old coat anymore, the shorts he was forced to wear since childhood were gone and replaced with, with…what was it? Pants? Yeah pants, he had pants on…strange. If that wasn't enough, his skin was darker, and less dry. It was if someone took the time to fix him…but who? Who would ever waste their life on him? He was just trash…the lowest form of existence…who would bother?! Why wasn't anyone listening to him? Why was it so…damn…

Quiet.

It was…quiet, it has never been quiet, not for as long as it could remember. That sickening raspy voice that belonged to the greatest hunter of the seas...the voice that tortured his mind and soul for what seemed to be since the day of his birth, the voice that had controlled him and toyed with him for its own sick amusement, was gone...it was gone. He remembered how that sick bastard taught him things about the outside world and explained how beautiful they were, and how they ease any soul into peace…then he would say he would never experience those great things because he won't let them. The voice would always suddenly destroy the picture as soon as Kano got too close or too enamored, breaking his nearly non-existent heart.

But now the voice was gone? For so long he had learned to notice its presence, so it defend what little life he had left within him, he was so distastefully attached with it that strange sensations forced themselves upon his throat…it was as if something wanted to some out, but nothing was there…it hurt his neck but he didn't know how to fix it. The blue haired person rubbed his neck with his hand and froze third time.

He was in control, him! He could move his own arms, own his legs, breathe his own breaths! He could do anything he wanted to, anatomically speaking of course…still, how did this miracle upon miracles happen? He needed someone to tell him, anyone really! If anybody didn't tell him soon he would burst with…with…oh he didn't know what with, but he would burst nonetheless! Maybe he had finally passed on…and he was in that place, the good place. He knew it couldn't be hell because the shark wasn't here, so it had to be the other place! What was it called? Heathen…? Helpless…? Hopeful…? Heaven! He was in heaven, where the angels were…and no monsters…no…monsters…

Kano's though process slowed down to a halt when he heard footsteps coming ever closer from the small area he was in. It was not the typical clack of hard leather hitting upon old wood and broken concrete; instead it was a soft pat of some other material on an even softer floor that crinkled when it was stepped on. Kano held his breath when a shadow figure appeared on the other side of the wall; it was short, and looked like him, a human. Kano shivered unknowingly in anticipation, if they should speak, it would be the first time he would have spoken to another person in ten years.

A flash a light blinded his eyes when the wall split in half, it took a minute to die down before Kano could muster the ability to see again.

There in front of him was a boy. The boy was even smaller than him, but had skin that looked way better than his own. Everything about him seem to look a lot better than himself; his hair, his clothes, even the way he stood told Kano that this was a person that never led a life imprisoned in a dark cell without the comfort of light. The boy gave him a brilliant smile before kneeling down and offering his hand to him.

"Hey did you wake up yet? It's about F#ing time!"

Kano fell to the floor face-first through instinct, in all of the things he thought he would hear in heaven; that was definitely not one of them. Shouldn't angels be pure and everything?

The other boy seemed annoyed at Kano's reaction and scrunched his face as he spoke again. "Hey, I'm talking to you! Are you awake yet?"

Kano shakily pushed himself up and tried to stand until his head hit the top of whatever he was in, he had not noticed just how small this little room was, or how soft. What was this little room made out of? Why was it so soft? And just how small was it?

Kano would have kept asking questions when the boy called out to him again, embarrassed for dreaming off he humbly bowed to the new person. "Y-yes I a-am awake n-now...um, w-who are y-you? A-Are y-you an a-angel?"

The boy stared at him for a second before snorting in laughter. "Me an angel? Now _that's_ funny, if I was an angel then the people who kept you in that tiny shit-hole of a prison were saints." The boy snorted a bit more at the question, further introducing the feeling of embarrassment to Kano. "But what's better is that you can talk. I don't want or like a non-talker, it would be so boring if you were. But I wouldn't doubt you would get to be good friends with Gaara-kun. He's quiet too, but he's all like 'If-you-come-near-me-I'll-kill-you' sort of quiet. You're more like 'I-don't-want-to-bothered-so-please-leave-me-alone' kind of quiet. But you'll grow out of that, Naruto-nisan and aniki will make sure of that. Anyway my name is Haru; I never got to hear your name since we were all kicking the Hidden Rain's asses."

But his speech was ignored as Kano drifted into his memories of the past night.

The cell…of course, he was sort of awake when he saw those people…

---Flashback Kano's POV---

_It was unbelievable, indescribable, impossible. _

_Never in all of my years of existence did I believe this would happen. I had prayed to gods, angels, spirits, even demons out of desperation for this event to happen. But it seemed that a mere mortal was able to accomplish what he believed, that no other being could. _

_He had silenced the voice. _

_The voice had haunted me since before I even had any clear thought; the voice had always sheltered me in a place of never-ending torture. Constantly berating and tearing at my soul, only to rebuild it and tear it down again and again. _

_But it was so quiet now...there was no more voice to torment me anymore, and I was reveling in it. I wished that I could jump out in the air and thank the man who had saved me from the voice, but I could not, I was too tired. _

_Even that in itself was amazing; I could actually feel things now. Exhaustion, hunger, pain, these feeling so shunned from others were gifts worthy of gods for me. It has been the first time in a very long while that I had actual control over my senses. I no longer felt the need to think or speak in the plural form anymore; I was now my own free person. _

_I was about to try to sleep when a new figure entered the scene, it was almost impossible to determine the person's gender. The person was garbed in a black and white cloak, the right side was completely white save for a blue kanji character symbolizing creation, and the other half was completely black with the red character kanji for destruction. The top was shadowed by the hood of the cloak, but you could easily see the strange smile on what appeared to be a young person's face. _

_"Hello comrades..." _

_The two boys whom he had seen earlier had jumped to his sides ready to protect him if need be. The one of red hair was summoning sand from his gourd and it was waving around in the air menacingly. The one of golden locks had changed drastically, his hands had shaped into claws and his face became more bestial. As for the rest of his body, a number of ethereal tails appeared at the small of his back, they were red…and it was growing? _

_"Who are you?" Demanded the man of the sands, he was next to the guy who had saved him, and seemed equally angry to see the other person. I wonder why? _

_The newcomer just smiled. "Protective aren't we? I like that." Protective? Of what? Me? _

_"Do not avoid the question" Muttered the bearer of golden locks, a ball of spinning chakra forming in his hand. It was a beautiful sight to see, I so wanted to touch it, to see or feel what it was. I felt that if I could hold that in my hand, I would be able to do anything… _

_"Fine, fine, my name right now is not important, but what **you** people are planning, or plan to do is." Said the one in the strange cloak, he had raised his hands in defense, and was looking quite smug. I felt a strange reaction that was for foreign to me, I do not even know this person and I already feel like hurting him…was this anger? Or was it something else entirely? _

_"How do you know of our plans?" Yelled the boy with gold hair. _

_"I am obligated to know everything. I already know everything about you, from your heroics to your demons, Naruto Uzumaki formerly of the Leaf, and Gaara formerly of the Sand. But we are drifting of topic..." _

_"Hell we are! Who sent you? Or are you working alone? Tell me damn it!" Yelled the one with golden locks, whom I'm guessing is Naruto, again as his posture became heavier. _

_"I'll let that slide because of the demonic influence in you, but..." Started the person before he/she vanished into nothingness, I was so amazed that I nearly stood up in shock, but I was too tired to even lift a finger. It was amazing that I was still even awake, let alone aware of my surroundings. _

_As the two others were searching around for the interlopers presence, the said person reappeared behind its offenders, with two strange blades of white light originating from his palms placed around the blonde's and sand person's necks. "If you ever cross me again you will cease to exist." _

_After all calmed down, the strange person moved away to the edge of the cell, still adorning the smile he had when he entered. "Anyway, you want to know my intentions? Very well. I plan to aid you...if you aid me. You and you're little group have caught my attention, and trust me when I say this, not even kings can gain my attention. But that is not the point, the point is why are you so special? Well this is why. 'An enemy of my enemy is my friend', or so the saying goes. I have an enemy who plans to bring ruin to this peaceful place, and I cannot stand back and just watch. I regret to say that I am only powerful enough to face him alone, but I cannot go against an army that follows his sick ambitions. I have been watching you since birth Naruto, and I am pleased at what I have seen. You have the strength of a warrior, but a soul of a child, a rare combination at any given point and time. _

_"I like people like you, it gives me hope that there really are people who can make differences in the world. Differences that I so desperately want to see. So I propose to you this: I help you find the people you are looking for and give you what you need for reaching your goal of destroying Akatsuki, and you help me destroy the army of my hated enemy." _

_The two named Naruto and Gaara stood silently for a moment, using their eyes to try to dig into the third party's soul, trying to decipher truth from deception. Once they realized that they could not do that, they looked at each other making movements with their faces and hands to share a secret language. _

_"Not all at once now." _

_The third party was tapping at his foot impatiently; it was obvious that he needed to be elsewhere. Naruto and Gaara made a final set of motions and looked at both at me and the stranger. _

_"Meet us inside the borders of the Earth Country; bring insurance that you claim truth. If the evidence you present to us is unacceptable, then we shall execute you on the spot." _

_The strange person gave an eager nod and stepped away, as soon as he reached the shadows, the strange one made a motion with his hand insisting us on leaving. _

_By then I was too tired to think anymore and fell asleep as either Naruto or Gaara lifted me and carried me away to freedom. _

---End Flashback and Kano's POV---

Kano was brought out of his memories as he finally noticed the young boy in front of him was asking his name.

"M-My n-name is K-Kano, Haru-san"

" Kano huh? Interesting name, Naruto's codename is Fudo, it's the same thing only with fire, what's you're biju? Mine and my brothers is a six-horned Ox, Naruto has a nine-tail fox and Gaara has a one-tail tanuki...Oh we're going to the Earth country! But I hear it's boring over there..."

Before the talkative youth could get another word in, another explosion shook the Earth around them.

**(BOOM!) **

The young boy suddenly smacked himself in the head for some a reason that Kano couldn't point out. "Oh man I forgot the fight! Come on you have got to see this!" The boy then grabbed Kano somewhat painfully for the frail ex-prisoner, and stopped just behind a thick leafy bush.

Kano, having no idea what was going on could only mutter a word. "Fight?"

Haru, as Kano finally collected his toughs, moved the thick leaves out of the way to allow the two to see the show. "Yeah! Naruto, Gaara, and Ni-san are having a spar! Come on ya gotta come and see!"

All three shinobi were in their demon forms, Naruto had five of his nine tails swishing around his back, he had grown clawed hands and feet, overgrown canines, and thicker whisker marks. Gaara was in his partial Shukaku form, with half of his body covered in sand and one thick tail swaying proudly in the air. Lastly, Kanaye had three black-as-night horns growing out of his head and shoulder blades, his skin had turned several shades darker, and his face resembled something like a bull. If possible, Kanaye's muscles seemed even larger than before.

Although each vessel had changed dynamically from their pervious pure-human forms, each had an identical feel of killing intent resonating off the chakra.

Kano couldn't breathe when he first felt the torrential river of killing intent washing upon over him, but soon calmed extensively when he noticed it was not directed at him. Instead, it felt like it was been directed at everything else _but_ him. Kano was slowly becoming more and more fascinated with the battle, Naruto attacked first with a red, demonic version of the beautiful sphere he remembered seeing inside the cell. He then disappeared in the blink of an eye, appearing right behind Gaara, who was saved from the explosion of pain from his quickly activated shield of sand, but the shield wasn't enough and both he and his shield was blown away. Nothing was left but sand. Naruto narrowed his eyes for only a second before seeking shelter in the trees.

Kanaye noticed the amount of danger he was in, being unable to see his enemies while they watch your every move is not good for one's health. He was not that good at tracking so his only alternative was to flush them out, but where were they? He knew Naruto was in the trees, and Gaara had to be as well seeing the ground was much too wet for his sand to be of any use. It was safe to assume both were in the trunks of the trees seeing as the canopy of this country was filled with that crazy paralyzing poison. So in the trees…that should be easy to fix.

Kanaye fixed his hands into the snake seal and envisioned what he wanted the trees to do; it took only a moment for the forest to respond.

"Ninpo: Rain of Forest Arrows!"

Countless of arrows shot out of the surrounded trees and attacked the other two jinchuuriki.

Gaara dropped from the tree he was hiding in and protected himself with his iron sand, the summoned arrows and spears flicked off harmlessly from the defense, but it was of no concern; they had fulfilled their purpose; Gaara was now in the open, and ripe for the attacking.

Naruto however wasn't so lucky, he was impaled with several dozen arrows and spears while the same arrows ricocheted off Gaara's defenses. Kano gasped at the sight of an apparently dead Naruto, but quickly stopped and stared confusedly as the 'Naruto' disappeared with a puff of smoke. He turned to the boy he had met before, asking him a question the younger of the two had counted on hearing.

"What happened?" Kano's face was intuitive, seemingly eager, if not starving to learn what had just happened before him. Haru stayed silent, he knew of Naruto's favorite technique and was quite amazed of it himself, he would have told Kano about it but decided not to. Kano would soon find out about it himself soon enough.

"KAGE-BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"

And there it was, Haru motioned to Kano to stay silent and pay attention. A strange command to come from one as talkative as himself, but the way he did it hinted to Kano all the answers would be shown if he just watched. So he silently obeyed, and watched.

An army of identical looking blonds appeared out of nowhere, from the clothes on their backs to the small symmetrical nicks on their cheeks, each one was exactly like the other next to it. Bunshin...so they're clones…but which one is the original? Not a thing was out of place from the copies.

_(How is this possible?)_ Thought Kano, seeing nothing but cell walls, torturers, and the occasional lunch, his entire life; the blue-haired vessel had never seen anything like this ever before. The wondoerous things he was seeing was convincing Kano more and more that he was actually dead; these things couldn't be possible in the real world...could they?

"Pretty kick-ass huh?"

Kano turned towards the boy next to him known as Haru, he was staring intently at the battle as if it was the most captivating thing in the world; and in a way, it was.

"Naruto is the one with blond hair. He's our unofficial leader since he started out this little group. Gaara is the guy with red hair; he's the guy that talks to other people so we could do stuff. He's really quiet, even with us, so don't expect him to smile at you when you finally get to talk to him. The last one is my brother, both me and him share a demon, we're the muscle."

Haru then looked at Kano with joyful eyes that could be seen regularly on a child with a family; but nonexistent to any other. "And you are Kano, our newest member, but we don't know what you're gonna do, but we'll think of something.

A loud crack was heard and one of the three fighters could be heard screeching in pain. Haru quickly snapped his head to see what happened, and was back to staring transfixed on the fight "We should pay attention to the fight; they're doing this for both them and us you know."

When Kano gave a confused stare, Haru elaborated. "They did it so they could see how to fight together, and they're showing us how to do it…we will _all_ be doing this one day, and at higher levels."

Kano stared at Haru for a little longer before shifting his attention back to the fight himself, if he had to see first and do later, then he would have to watch every second he could. What kind of person _wouldn't_ want to know how to do these things?

-

Kanaye scowled angrily at Naruto as he cradled his manhood in his palms.

The damn bastard had told one of his clones to kick him in the gonads as soon as it had appeared; the tactic had thoroughly disabled and humiliated him, for only about a second, then extreme justifiable anger had burst through him like never before.

Kanaye began throwing his trunk-sized arms and legs with great speed and power. Any clone that tried to block his attack was soon dispelled as the force behind the attack shattered the very ground they stood on. The clones, learning that fist-to-fist brawling was a suicidal no against Kanaye, soon began reverting to bladed weapons and ninjutsu to slow the angry ex-grass ninja down. Kanaye smiled at the sad attempt to slow him down, and with a bovine battle cry; dove in fists first into the battalion of clones.

-

_(That should hold burger-brain for a while) _Thought Naruto, he was desperately anxious to test his new abilities against Gaara's apparently newly acquired arsenal of sand. Cow-face would only get in the way, and he wanted no interruptions. He knew if he wanted to win he would have to keep a constant assault against Gaara's shield, but with what should he start with first? Better something heavy to knock him silly then something fast to build some damage.

Naruto did the essential hand signs for the chosen just and looked at Gaara, with his trademark fox grin. "Fox fire!" Naruto whispered as he formed a sizeable ball of blue fire in his hand and threw it at Gaara, strangely enough; it wasn't that much larger than his own head. It was probably the reason why Gaara's shield of sand blocked the attack so easily; maybe too easily…

Gaara dropped his head to the side in a questioning stare, as if to mock Naruto with a question. "Is that all Uzumaki? Pitiful."

Naruto had yet to drop his smile, instead opting to smile wider as time passed. "Wait for it..." It was easy to see he was overly-eager by the coming effects. Gaara inwardly sighed at the thought; their leader was no more mature than an overgrown five-year-old, but then scolded him self for losing track midway through battle. Why was it that it was only when fighting Naruto that he lost his focus?

It was after his musings that he noticed the steadily rising temperature of his climate, and soon saw why.

His sand was on fire…

His _sand_ was on FIRE?!

Gaara tried extinguishing the sand by cutting off its air supply by drowning it in sand. But to his dismayed surprise, the flames only burned brighter. "What in the world-"

Gaara quickly dropped the part of his shield that held the flames and let the remains burn away, the sand had burned it so bad that the sand particles had turned to molten glass. Gaara first observed the glass and then stared at the blond boy "How in the..."

Naruto finally let himself gloat in triumph; he was laying the bragging so thick, that his ego was almost tangible. "Like it? Its _fox_ fire, it eats away at _anything_, including demonic sand. Why don't we try and prove that?" Naruto's face became calculating as he sent another wave of blue fire at him "Fox Fire!"

Gaara tried to dodge as many as he could but could not keep up with the sheer multitude of falling spheres of unholy flames. Slowly Gaara lost his defenses, and started o grow desperate, he then called on one of his fore-fathers moves.

"_Satetsu Kaiho! _(Iron Sand World Order!)"

Gaara's nearly diminished shield and armor suddenly turned into iron sand, and reformed into a sphere. Soon after the case was formed dozens of metallic spikes shot out, and a few were flying straight at Naruto.

_(Shit!) _

Naruto narrowly dodged the spikes by jumping away, he was only thankful that Gaara had resisted the urge to tip the spikes with poison. That would have been too dangerous without a proper medic with them.

**(BOOM!) **

_(You have got to be shittin' me; I thought I had more time!) _

Naruto's clones have all been eliminated, leaving a nice open path for Kanaye to charge through in all of his infuriated glory.

But charge he didn't, instead Kanaye focused the chakra in his fist and took a deep breath in. A second later he let the breath out and opened his eyes, Kanaye then threw his fist to the ground.

Nothing.

At least, in the first few seconds, after that, a pillar of stone rose from the ground, easily matching the height of the nearby trees. Letting the other two ogle the pillar for a second, Kanaye then lifted the pillar from the bottom and held high above his head, another moment later, the entire thing was crashing down.

Naruto quickly jumped to the side, and threw three kunai straight at Kanaye. Who easily used his new pillar to shield him from them, it was just his luck that the spinning blades of doom rebounded off his newly created weapon and headed straight to Gaara. Gaara used his sand to block and ensnare the kunai and then completely covered them in a small coffin of sand, the second they were fully encased; a muffled explosion could be heard. Evidently they had explosion notes on them...

Once assured that the notes no longer held threat, Naruto created another legion of clones, and all charged at Kanaye with a loud battle cry.

Kanaye grinned and groaned at once, he loved making destruction, but can you say overkill? There are only two hundred clones; he could take these out in no time flat. It was only when he hit the first clone did he realize the twist...

They went boom.

Naruto had not sent his trade-mark shadow clones to attack, but his new suicide explosion clones, courtesy of Jiraiya's monstrously extensive, if equally brutal, training regime. Kanaye had no other alternative to fight them than to use his shuriken and other projectile attack, which were a grand total of three. But these three were almost unstoppable, Kanaye after all, settled only for the best.

Gaara not wanting to be ignored by the other two, had summoned his iron sand to attack Naruto.

"Ninja Technique: Detonating Rose Gardens!"

A summoned ring of rose bushes to surrounded Kanaye, creating a small ineffective barrier against the incoming clone assault. Kanaye focused a little harder to speed the technique up, he channeled his chakra to the thorns of the roses, increasing their size and sharpness. The clones were only a handful of meters away when Kanaye sent out a wave of chakra through the stems of the roses. The result was million upon millions of long and sharpened rose thorns flying through the air and colliding with the clones.

The resulting explosions rocked the entire Rain country.

-

The group-of-five was running like mad to the border between Rain and Earth country, the explosions from their sparring had undoubtedly revealed their location to the ANBU squads and Jounin of the Rain. They had little time to cover a whole lot of ground they have never seen before; Gaara only hoped that the group was running in the right direction of Earth country where they should lose their hunters in the mountains. However, he doubted they will even get near the border in the way Naruto and Kanaye were acting; the two were currently trying to blame the other for revealing their location.

"Damn it Kanaye! Can't you go one day without completely destroying something?!" Exclaimed a loud and annoying blond, he was currently leading the group with his fox claws/hands, occasionally missing a twig to let it hit Kanaye. He was of course referring to how the brute had not only destroyed a noticeable portion of rainforest of an already tiny country, but also the complete desecration of the rain nin defense force sent after them soon after the detonation of the hospital, and the near obliteration he had caught a glimpse of at the Hidden Grass village.

Kanaye, of course, did not like the idea of being accused of something he knew was the blond guy's fault. "Shut up you stupid fur ball! It wasn't my idea to send _exploding_ clones! That was _your_ genius idea!" Kanaye was gradually getting more and more pissed, so far Naruto had hit him with a twig eight times... (thwak!) ...make that nine times, and it was really starting to annoy the hell out of him.

"Both of you be silent! We have a guest among us if you have already forgotten!" Gaara grunted in frustration, he knew they should have waited a bit more before tearing down the rainforest. He had just learned the bliss of a pleasant dream and was rudely shaken out of it by Naruto's foot. Not only that but none of them had the chance to eat anything decent since before the raid, and his stomach was complaining loudly at that fact.

Gaara briefly wondered why they set up camp in Rain Country, Kano would not have been too much of a burden to carry if at all, and Haru could easily keep up with them if they held their speed back slightly. The brief scuffles in Rain were not worth the careful tact they had used to get in, but he did remember a wave of exhaustion passing over him not long after their escape…maybe it was-

"Kiss my ass Gaara! He's going to have to get use to this if he decides to stay!"

Gaara mind halted almost immediately, Kanaye better hope to all the gods above that he had just not said what he thought he said.

With the most insane tone he could make, Gaara stared into Kanaye's soul with self-righteous anger. "What did you say meat-sack?"

Kanaye was not impressed; he had both seen and made worse death glares. "You heard me sand bag."

Kanaye's arrogance aggravated Gaara, and his seal flashed a deep red before dying out quickly. "You insolent fool! If you don't shut up I'll gladly demonstrate why _I_ was the Kazekage of Sunagakure!" To prove his pint, small wisps of blooded and iron sand floated around the group.

Kanaye gave a grin and flexed his trapezial muscles of his upper back to taunt Gaara. "I like to see you try!"

The yelling was getting louder, and that couldn't be good for their already near-hopeless clean escape. "Guys! Quiet!" This time it was Naruto who yelled, silencing both Gaara and Kanaye. None of the three noticed it but Kano, who was on Naruto's back grabbing hold for his dear life was watching Naruto with a gaze similar to what Konohamaru of the Leaf use to see with Naruto, a gaze of admiration.

"We don't need this right now, if we don't hurry we'll get caught! And I _really_ don't like the idea of maybe losing any of my body parts today!"

The statement silenced both of the ninja's, they did not want to be caught either. They would most like put into a cell and held similar to that of Kano, the thought made Kanaye shudder.

-

It had only been minutes into their run when they were found.

When the trees began thinning out, the group began to think maybe they had made it. They had felt a very tiny feeling of alleviation when more sunlight started breaking through the canopy, but it was abruptly killed when a volley of exploding tags were shot over them and cut off their escape root by making a not-so-small ravine in the Earth.

Five teams had found them at once; it seems they had followed the tracks that the group made in their blind running, namely Naruto's claw marks and grains of Gaara's sand. Reminding himself to find a more efficient way of containing his sand, Gaara observed the teams they were facing. There were four gennin teams each with their jounin senseis, and one ANBU squad. The gennins would be almost child's play to fight; but child's play required actual effort. The jounins would slow them down, but not by much. He was a former Kazekage so four jounins are easy pickings, but he had the disadvantage in the terrain, warm and _wet_ air was not good for sand. The ANBU were a serious threat, they would have great strength mixed in with their already complex illusions, Naruto could break them, theoretically, but that is still a random variable. He doubted the blond knew just how to use his new eye just yet.

That's when he realized something, he and Naruto were not alone, although it is only Kanaye; he had some very powerful jutsus. And they were al plant-related, and it just so happened that they were surrounded by plants. But his taijutsu should be able to crush their enemies with evident ease. With renewed confidence, Gaara stepped forward with an air of authority, clearly sneering at the enemy ninja before them regardless of the fact that he and his friends were outnumbered three-to-one.

"What do you want?" Gaara asked.

"Don't play dumb. You know what we want" The ANBU captain was the one who spoke, his voice sounded young and powerful. But the voice, or even the man, could be an illusion. Nothing is for sure around these parts, especially when dealing with Ame-nin.

"Would it be the boy?" Asked Kanaye, he had placed his arms behind his neck and was tapping his right foot into the floor. The evident disregard to the threat the rain-nin thought they presented angered them greatly. Who did these guys think they were?

"The boy is worthless, he serves no purpose, he is a failed experiment...What we want are you're heads." Responded the captain, the tone of his voice sent shivers down his own comrades' spines; Kano himself was shaken terribly, that sounded too much like 'The Voice'. Naruto noticed his trembling and slowly placed him on the floor. He then made a trio of clones to look after him, satisfied he turned to look at the rain shinobi tiredly.

"Our heads? I hate to tell you this, but we need our heads. It sort of comes with the requirements to live you know?" Naruto tried to catch their foes off-guard with an insulting attitude, any enemy can be taken out if they are distracted properly...besides this talk was getting boring; he needed some action!

The joke did its job as the gennins assaulted the biju-containers in fury. "Fool! You shall pay for humiliating the Rain!"

But before any of them could do anything, Gaara had ensnared them with his sand.

"Desert Graveyard" Said Gaara as he held his hand out to them, he rose his arm to lift the sand into the air, and once it was high enough, Gaara clenched his hand, effectively crushing the Rain genins to death.

As the blood rain down on all of present ninja, Gaara grunted again and gave a cruel smirk. "Desert funeral."

The other ninja were appalled at Gaara for different reasons. The Rain was gradually brimming in anger for his ruthless brutality against their kin, Naruto and Kanaye for his overkill; they wanted fun too! Haru was simply upset at Gaara for ruining his clothes, and Kano nearly passed out because he knew the scenes all too well.

"W-What are you?" stammered one of the jounin, while justifiably angered at the loss of his students, he was all too aware at the power these _things_ were capable of. He would not underestimate them.

Naruto gave him a shit-eating grin as he looked at the nin in the eye.

"Demons"

Naruto and Kanaye quickly jumped into the fray, sending a small wave of kunai and shuriken to distract the enemy, while Gaara sent a sizeable wave of his own sand shuriken.

The tactic worked as the remaining shinobi either jumped away or deflected the flying knives. Kanaye quickly got into a taijutsu fight with one of the jounins, quickly sealing his fate. While Naruto performed his simple, yet effective, combination of mass shadow clones with ransengan's in hand,

Gaara had sealed himself and the other two boys in his sphere of sand, and told Naruto's clones to go and help their copies. He was not planning to leave the fight, he was simply preparing for it as he turned into his partial-Shukaku state. A fight avoided is a fight with no setbacks, scaring the hell out of the other ninja should no the trick.

Most of the rain nin were caught off-guard at such a display of power, they were all too busy avoiding the chakra-ball wielding clones to aid their comrade, who was being royally owned by Kanaye.

It was clear to everybody that this has become a battle of attrition and stamina. It was only a matter of time until the clones caught up to the rain nins and impaled them with the compact hurricane in their palms. Slowly, the enemies lost their numbers one by one, the nin's did not know of the inhuman stamina these shinobi had, nor did they know what Gaara was plotting, thus their downfall was predetermined when they first saw the demon vessels.

"Suna Shigure (Sand Drizzle)"

Gaara's shield suddenly exploded outward, sending a deadly hail of thick sand spears in every manageable direction. Kanaye finished his fight with a swift horizontal karate chop, cleaving the other ninja's head right off, and then disappeared underground to protect himself. Naruto, noticing the predicament did the same, as did the clones connected to Naruto.

The attack only lasted for about two seconds, and although none of the actual targets were hit, the entire clearing was covered in a thin coating of sand; the Rain-nin hardly knew what the hell happened as they soon found themselves bound to the ground via sand vice-grips.

Gaara was now grinning semi-maniacally, Shukaku had become bored with the way they were fighting, and asked if he could eat one. This was intended to be a cynical joke, but Gaara saw it differently, the comment gave the former Kazekage a new idea that just might work, if his theory might prove correct.

Deciding to wing it Gaara released the seal a bit.

_(Shukaku, I have an amusing proposition that you might find interesting) _

Shukaku stirred, the last time Gaara had made direct contact was…well…never actually. What could have led to this little altercation? He couldn't wait to find out.** WELL OUT WITH IT GAKI! **

Gaara frowned, demons were so impatient. _(First, is it possible to eat a soul?) _

Shukaku's mouth had already begun salivating a river of drool at the mere thought.** HMM...I'M ALREADY LIKING THIS IDEA OF YOURS GAKI. YES IT IS POSSIBLE. WHY? **

Gaara looked at the drool uncomfortably and began to wonder if this was such a good idea…did the drool just bubble? It did didn't it? That was…repulsive. _(Well, can you somehow reach into the soul of the enemy and bring it in with you?) _Gaara tried to hold his stomach subtly by crossing his arms, Shukaku noticed anyway but didn't comment. He really wanted to eat that soul, and he didn't want anything to change the brats mind.

Shukaku laughed maniacally as he made a show of licking his lips to Gaara. **GAKI, JUST RELEASE THE SEAL A BIT AND WATCH THE SHOW. **

Outside the Shukaku's abode, Gaara was in his partial-release form, looking as menacing as when he first met Naruto.

Suddenly, his arm reached out to one of the rain nins, but instead of squishing him like a grape, the sand went into the mouth of the victim. The helpless rain nin struggled in vain as it felt an phantom pain surge throughout his being, and tried desperately to breathe.

Shukaku, in a spirit form, was ripping his soul out of his body in the most painful way that it could manage. And once it was done, it dragged the soul through the sand, and into the seal.

-

Kage did not know what the hell happened, all he felt was a unspeakable horror reaching into the deepest parts of his body and then a strange whooshing feeling. And after that, nothing, he could not see, he could not hear, he could not smell, he could not feel, and he could not taste anything. He then vaguely wondered if this is how it felt when someone died. It wasn't so bad, he guessed, at least it wasn't hell.

**NOT YET IT ISN'T**

Kage completely turned around, or did he? Suddenly all of his senses returned. He was inside an old Shinto temple. It smelled of blood and fear, a very uneasy combination. He searched for the voice, who had now started laughing insanely. It was coming from everywhere, from above, from below, in front and from...

**BEHIND YOU**

The nin did not have the time to scream as Shukaku, the one-tailed tanuki of sand devoured his soul.

-

The rest of the group could only watch in horror as Gaara opened his mouth and the screams of anguish from the victim escaped the hollows of his body. All heard the crunching and chewing noises the demon inside him made as he grinded the fleshy soul of the human between his fangs.

The enemy nin were now proverbially shitting in their pants, was that going to happen to them as well? They were frozen in time in an instinctual fear that they had never felt before; ever since the battle began they were on the defensive, trying desperately to survive the onslaught. Now here they were, with less than half their numbers facing an execution that was seemingly made from the devil himself. The thought was so frightening that they couldn't think, much less move.

Naruto and Kanaye were both disturbed and intrigued; they both had the same thought going through their minds.

How the hell did Gaara/Sandman do _THAT!_

Seconds later, the screaming stopped; followed by a disturbingly gluttonous gulp. Kanaye had bounded over to Gaara and demanded him to tell him how he did that. Naruto noticed that the chest cavity was steadily increasing and decreasing, so he was still breathing? And his skin tone hadn't changed so that must mean the blood is still flowing too. But as Naruto looked at the man's face he knew he was gone, there was nothing on the mans face; not literally but spiritually he was gone. He looked like a soulless, brain-dead zombie, Naruto decided to end the meaningless existence by relieving it of its head.

Naruto then looked at the rest of their enemies; they were so scared that they didn't notice the sand had freed them. Naruto felt pity for the fools and quickly subdued them by ordering his clones to kill with a simple stab of a kunai to the back of the head.

With all of the enemies taken care of, Naruto yelled at everybody to get ready to leave. He took one last glance at the enemies and remembered what Kakashi had said about hunter-nin disposing bodies after they had killed their target. With a shrug, Naruto summoned a mediocre sized toad and ordered it to cover the bodies in oil. The toad was obviously surprised at the carnage and asked him in the punk-like tone of voice that seemingly all toads had if something was wrong. Naruto shook his head and said he'll tell Bunta soon. Satisfied the toad did his chore and went on his merry way. Naruto then used a mild fire jutsu to burn the bodies.

Happy that their faces wouldn't haunt his dreams, Naruto joined the rest of his group and dashed out of the country.

Many hours later, when patrols reach the site of the battle, they would only find the burning, scattered remains of what used to be their brethren shinobi.

-

The troop of five was moving at a disturbingly silent but blinding pace, involuntarily recreating their blatantly obvious tracks. But that was quickly remedied with Naruto's shadow clone technique; they would not show themselves as fools twice. Although Kano felt himself a fool with all the unanswered questions circling in his mind, He had never asked these kinds of questions before, and thus was completely lost in finding their answers.

What where the requirements to have a family? What about being part of a family? Where there even requirement about these things?

These types of questions and many more like them circled around Kano's head in a silent mockery. He wished he knew more of these things, but it was not like he had the chance to study the material. He racked his brain as much as he could to remember what The Voice had unintentionally taught him about families. He knew that there were parents and siblings and other extended family members; and each one was supposed to love and help him anytime he needed or wanted it, so why was he having trouble figuring out if these people where his own family or not?

Kano was studying the group to see if he could find any clue to the answer; but he focused on the man called Naruto the most, not in a perverted sense mind you, but more as gauging him to see if he was the kind a person who he was only mocked to never have; a brother...maybe even a father.

**_(Yaoi is a disease that must be remedied! All loyal Het-pairings fans unite! Destroy the cursed scourge that is Yaoi) _**

****

**_(Ok not really, but yaoi writers, try to knock it down a notch please? There's too many Yaoi fics out there already.)_**

Kano then noticed that the group was finally starting to slow down, and noticed that it had been only five hours of constant sprint-running since the left the place of the epic battle he saw.

Naruto, Kanaye, and Gaara were breathing hard enough to create a storm, while Kano and Haru just stood there patiently. Haru had a sleepy face on and looked like he was collapse at any second, although Kano was waiting patiently for the explanation of his presence with these interesting people.

Three minutes later Haru fell on his back snoring loud enough to wake the dead, while the older three vessels were still trying to catch their breath. Kano was temporarily worried for Haru but relaxed when Kanaye gasped out that he always acted like that. Kano then asked what he was doing there with them, and the situation finally got serious.

"Tell me Kano, what do you know about yourself?"

The question caught all off-guard, who wouldn't be? If some stranger asked you how much you knew yourself, implying that he knew more wouldn't you be a bit freaked out? But then again Kano was a different kind of person, as he soon looked down on the floor deeply depressed.

"T-To b-be truthful, I-I don't really know m-much. All I-I k-know is that h-horrible v-voice..."

"Voice? Tell me Kano, how does this voice sound like?" It was Gaara that asked the question. It would for the best if he asked it anyway; he had the most experience when it came down to dealing with demon voices. At least, Kanaye hadn't implied that he had suffered as such.

Surprisingly, Kano answered without the stutter, his voice had changed into a cold, hateful tone as the thought about the bastard voice. "The voice is cruel, I hate it so much...it hurts me every day...but the voice is gone now, its so quiet...so very quiet..." Kano whispered the last part, it was a strange mix of fearful joy; Kano didn't want to accidentally bring the voice back, so he was always careful of what he said. Gaara himself was like that when Shukaku was gone, overjoyed that the curse was gone, but greatly afraid that it could come back. He even understood the awkwardness that came with the silence, although the demonic voice was a burden that none should carry, one gets accustomed to it, and once it was gone, one would not know what to do next...especially if you were alone...

Gaara shook himself from such thoughts, he was not alone anymore, and neither will this boy be.

" Kano, do you know what that voice is?" Gaara asked tentatively, he did not want to startle the boy, it could prove too much for his frail mind.

"A demon"

The answer was so quick and cold that the four other boys had to do a double take. That did not sound like the weak-sounding boy from moments before.

"Then we truly are the same."

Kano looked at the boy with hair stained of blood, he truly wondered if he was either born with that hair, or if it came with all the blood he shed. But before he could look deeper into that, Gaara interrupted his thoughts with a speech that would change his life forever.

"Take a look around Kano, and what do you see?"

Kano did what he was asked to do and was about to reply when he was cut off once again.

"You see four boys correct? Well you are only half right. We are something that was created out of desperation; we are a scapegoat, a means to let other people survive. While others have the ability to change their fate and destiny, we do not. We are bound by chains to face the endless hardships that face us in life. Whether it be fear, hatred, or even envy, our lives are cursed the day we were born. We have only each other to rely on, and those who accept us for what we are. We are brothers, we are tools, we are jinchuuriki."

Kano stayed silent, waves of unrestrained emotions flooding into his rapidly recovering soul.

These people...these people were something that was used to torture him endlessly.

They were something he had never dared dreamed about.

They were the one thing that the voice himself did not have.

And now he had it.

"Family."

Kano fainted at saying those words, as if it was the last thing he had to do in life before he passed on. He finally had a shoulder to cry on; he finally had something to call his own. As Kano fainted, his new family caught him and set him down o the floor, being careful as to not to hurt him. As they fussed over their new brother worrying if there was something wrong, but relaxed when they saw him smiling in his sleep; his face soaked with tears.

-

Kano awoke to the scenery of majestic mountains and awe-inspiring canyons. He noticed that Haru was awake this time, and was busy pointing and asking about everything. Kano himself was on Naruto's back, as Gaara was riding his sand and Kanaye was carrying Haru. Kano asked where he was and what was going on. Unsurprisingly, it was Naruto who answered him.

"We're following a lead."

"What?"

"It's been a really long time since you decided to knocked out on us Kano, about a week or so."

Kano gaped at this statement; Naruto laughed at Kano's expression and continued his dialogue. "I was really surprised myself, you almost beat Gaara's record! But he beat you by three days…lazy ass. Anyway, after you went to sleepy-bye, we arrived in Earth country a few short hours after you collapsed. Soon after, we reached a small village and asked around for a strange man, claiming that we had business with him. We found him, and told us of a location not too far from where we were. We can trust him…at least I hope so. Hey get ready to brace yourself all right?"

The group had entered a low-ceiling cave and was currently avoiding the stalagmites; a particularly larger one had almost smashed Kano and Naruto into an Ukon/Sakon combo. But after they passed that, the end of the cave was seen as blinding light. Once the two reached the light, Naruto made a huge jump. It seemed the exit was a hole on the side of a cliff, with an entrance to another cave just across it; it was pretty obvious a bridge used to be here, but it was either destroyed or had rotted into oblivion. Once Naruto landed and reached the other side, he continued his running and dialogue as he caught up to Kanaye and Gaara.

"Anyway, he got us some good info. It seems our next brother is the container for the Eight-tusked Elephant, crazy huh? His name is Mamoru, but he is not a shinobi. In fact he is kind of a smith-samurai double-profession kind of guy; and he's one of the best if we studied the info right. Here's a photo of him taken about a year ago." Naruto reached into his right-chest pocket and pulled out a picture, he gave it to Kano who tried to study the face.

The boy had brown hair and green eyes, his arms were bulky and muscled, most likely from his trade as a smith, but that was the only part that he could see like that. Contrary what he first thought, Mamoru had a very large belly and really pudgy legs and face, Kano assumed that he was not built for speed, but appearances can be deceiving. Kano took a look at Gaara, anyone would think he would be at least semi-competent in agility since he was so thin, but in reality, with the strain of his gourd and the year of lack of sleep; Gaara's physical prowess was seriously lacking. At least, that was what he was able to gather.

Seeing Kano's critical face Naruto decided to put his two cents in. "Doesn't look like a fighter huh? That's what we all thought too until we saw his achievements. It seems that he is very skilled with his arms, making his slices with his sword almost surgical in accuracy. He is without a doubt the most physically strongest samurai they have, and the best weapons maker as well." Another flash of light signaled the end of his speech as he stopped right in front of a small platform overlooking a massive city built inside a large cavern. The sight was so awesome that Kano had lost his breathe looking at it. Naruto only smirked at his reaction and waved his hand at the city before them.

"Welcome to the Samurai village of Patience, Kano."

-

The night came as fast as it had the day before, and the children were carried off back home to their families. One particular little girl jumped up and gave the stranger a hug. When he asked why she gave it to him, she answered innocently that he looked like he wanted one.

The stranger decided that this really was his most favorite place in the whole damn world.

-

**Hey Everybody! Sorry I haven't updated in like over a month! I have been a little busy with all the semester finals and all that. School is such a troublesome burden, but I guess its worth it in the end since I'll be allowed to boss around other people as a job he, he. Anyway, the next chap should comea lot soonrer than this one since I know what to write and not just wing it. And I plan to start another story soon, it involves a legend and street gangs...Trust me, you'll love it. Oh, and please review my loyal readers...I beg of you! I'm doing the friggin puupy-dog pout and everything! Just think about it ok? Later...**


	7. Chapter 6: Samurai showdown!

I do not own Naruto, or anything related to the franchise. I would if I could, but I don't.

**_An Ancient Rivalry Settled! Samurai Versus Ninja! _**

-

The stranger walked slowly to the park that day. He wasn't physically tide at the least, but the girl saw through him so easily it disturbed him greatly.

How did the little girl know of his pain? Was he simply that obvious? Or did she have special eyes for cases like him? It would not be the first time he met such a person. Yet, although the simple act the girl showed yesterday unsettled him greatly, he could not help but feel that the girl knew him so well, it just meant thee was one more person he had reason to continue on for. But he knew he had to keep his distance, lives don't last forever, and he doesn't want to break any hearts.

His gloomy thoughts were cut off when he was surrounded with children, each offering a hug, a game, or a kiss. The traveler was so chocked that he didn't notice the little girl from yesterday smiling widely behind him, she had set up this little activity. And just as well, the guy really needed it, he has been working so hard lately. The roughhousing of the children eventually became too much to handle for the stranger to balance, and the stranger collapsed from the weight of dozens of children laughing joyously the entire time.

The little girl let herself a small chuckle before retiring to a stoic façade, no one noticed as she began fading away as she walked farther away from the park. Eventually it was as if she was never there.

Rai chuckled at the expense of his new friend and settled the children down for another chapter. But before he started he felt a cold shiver run down his spine.

_'Thank you…for keeping my friend happy…' _

Rai looked around, and the children mimicked him. That was strange…it was as if a ghost had whispered to him.

…

Hah! He must be getting old if he was thinking like that now!

Rai shook his head to clear his head and settled himself down, now where did he leave off last time…****

**- **

A ninja is cold, precise, and ruthless...these thee traits is what separate the best of the shinobi, from the worst. He had long ago learned that ninja have their own flaws that keep them from reaching the top, and has learned to exploit the traits and rid himself completely of them. Some are too compassionate and let their feelings hinder their fighting, a simple target to manipulate into a trap; some are not smart enough to follow the path and use brute strength to get what they want, these fools are all too easy to eradicate; but the most common reason is the most idiotic. Too many ninja are too merciful in battle, using honor and ethics to spare their enemies, that mistake usually comes to haunt their futures with very dire consequences.

Such nonsense is not tolerated in Akatsuki.

Katana spared a glance at his own partner for a moment; he was both afraid and intimidated of the woman, but felt pride and assurance that he was able to control her like a puppeteer to their puppets. He had encountered Mononoke years before Akatsuki was ever founded, along with his boss; and prided himself in being one of the three co-founders of Akatsuki. Mononoke was the ideal shinobi; cold, calculated, and ruthless. And her bloodline limit just made her all the more destructive. He was truly fortunate to be on the same side as her.

But that did not mean he was one of those weak fools who let others do his bidding, he was a true shinobi as well, and he was going to prove that here, in this miserable excuse of a Samurai village. Those fools don't truly recognize the power of a blade! They spend lifetimes perfecting a single style and then claim themselves the perfect warrior, and then another one pops out claiming his style would conquer his, creating a rivalry that would later erupt into war. This reoccurs countless times creating wars tat destroy the lives of countless families, and leave them to ruin. Such a thing happen to his family as well, he would of grown to be one of those self-centered, honored-shackled fools if it weren't for the massacre that occurred all those years ago...The only reason_ he_ was still alive was because he killed so many of the invaders, out of respect and ambition his family's murderers had opted to turn him into a puppet for their own goals. Now that he thought about it, he remembered one of the strongest attackers took a young boy of his clan…Kiminaro, he wondered what had happened to him. It was most likely not as _productive_ as what he had to go suffer.

His captors taught him the art of the blade that samurai follow with dedication second only to their faith in the heavens; he learned the secrets of focusing chakra into the steel of any blade and turning it into a tool of the elements granted to him, on his own he learned from both by instinct and by scrolls remaining from his family's library the skills of the ninja. Stealth, slight of hand, ninjutsu, illusions, and the limits his bloodline gave him; he learned all of these abilities to the point of secondary nature. When his training was complete, he thanked his _tutors_ in the proper way, by killing them all. There would be no _honor_ in their deaths as he eliminated them and all of their families down to the youngest soul.

He was Katana Kaguya, The unbreakable sword of the now deceased Kaguya clan.

But now he was a missing-nin, considering the fact his clan was in servitude of the mist, working for the leader of Akatsuki. He was not after power or wealth, but to rid the world of its foolishness of the idea of 'honor'. Such a worthless way of thought only let people die; and others suffer. He wants to cleanse the world of this wasteful idea and recreate it so it can become a world of perfect warriors, free of the idea of mercy and fair play, open to manipulate all forms of combat and use any method of escape to survive. To rid the world of honor, that is his ninja way.

Katana suddenly grasped his arm in pain, it seems that his medicine has started to fail on him already...and that meant he only had a small amount of time left until the next dose, he so detested the taste of that horrid liquid, but he digresses. Katana spared another glance at Mononoke, who was staring at him intently.

"It is time..." Whispered Katana, his voice was gentle, to the point where one would double take to see if it really was a masculine voice.

Mononoke, nodded and offered her opinion. "Very well, should we attack at nightfall? That is, after all, when our skills are at their peak"

Katana nodded slowly, tomorrow would be as red as the clouds they wore.

-

"I have a bad feeling about this Uzumaki" Said a voice.

Naruto simply gave a side glance at his apparently paranoid travel companion before continuing to stare straight ahead. "What do you mean Gaara? It has only been the first day that we've been here, nothing can go wrong now." Except for the lack of ramen stands as the blonde noticed, how did these poor souls survive life without the divine gift that was ramen? He will never know.

"Any samurai we have faced up to this point are nothing more than experienced thugs," answered Gaara. "These are trained warriors, worthy of their titles as their ancient ancestors before them. If we have to face their leader, nothing short of a sannin or a kage would beat them."

Naruto just kept looking ahead, noting the wary glances they were getting from the native villagers, it was rather suspicious to see five random people appear out of nowhere inside a hidden samurai village, he wondered if this place was as anal about security as Konoha. The more he thought about t the more it seemed they did, it didn't help that he saw no small number of men and women going inside their homes for their weapons. Then again, the fact that the village was hidden inside a _mountain_ of all things sort of gave all of that away.

"So what do you think we should do? I can't start training Kano because of this little development, and dumb and dumber over there are just itching to fight one of these guys." Naruto was referring to the Ox bros, who were not-so subtly wringing their hands in anticipation of a fight.

"True, Kanaye and Haru do seem to want to test their fists and feet against their blades. I guess it's just a meat-head thing don't you agree?"

Naruto laughed at Garra's statement, but it soon died away when a group of surrounding samurai closed in on them.

"So you think we're meat heads huh? Not smart enough to take you down?" Said one random samurai, he said it loud enough to attract the entire crowd. Soon samurai of all shapes and sizes were surrounding them.

Gaara took it upon himself to diffuse the situation, while the others started to prepare themselves for an upcoming battle.

"Excuse my rude behavior friend, but in order to travel in this group your tongue has to be as sharp as any blade, and occasionally we bring an innocent in to our little squabbles."

The second samurai snorted. "'Sorry' isn't good enough here boy, you have dishonored us, and we aim to regain that honor. If you really want to be excused you have to go through a duel with us. Meet us here at this spot in three hours, we will decide then who is a _meat-head_ and who is isn't." The third samurai, who had yet to say anything, stared at Naruto and pointed a finger at him, and then made a thumb down signal. The message was all-too clear.

And Naruto was all-too receptive.

With that the surrounding samurai and villagers went back to their daily chores, avoiding any form of contact with the group of travelers. Kanaye and Haru cheered at having the chance of fighting these warriors at least once, while Gaara groaned in irritation, Kano was looking as confused as ever.

"And to think it wasn't my mouth that got us into this. Good going Gaara." Muttered Naruto, Gaara mumbled something that closely resembled a 'shut up' and Kano was looking even more lost than before.

"Excuse me Uzumaki-sama, but what just happened?"

Naruto looked at Kano disbelievingly, but then remembered how he had came to be with them. "Samurai live by a really ancient code called bushido, 'The way of the warrior'. The code centers completely on honor, when that honor is insulted in any way, it is up to the samurai to regain his honor in a duel. We had insulted them, and thus ruined their honor, now we must face the samurai in a ritualized duel, or go against the entire samurai village, that is on the definite 'no' option column."

Kano nodded to show he understood, and took a moment to observe his surroundings. It was the first time he had ever seen more than two to three people at once, bar the conflict with the rain-nin and his first meetings of the group. And it was absolutely amazing for him. He couldn't begin to describe all the sights, sounds, and smells he met. To him, being in such a place was equivalent to having the gods give him passage towards a utopia.

He then noticed that his group was leaving him behind and gave a startled cry once he realized just how far they were from him.

-

"So, how are we going to fight these guys?" Asked Kanaye.

"Is that all you ever think about Kanaye?" sighed Naruto. "You really have to start thinking with your head and not your fists."

Gaara shook his head at Naruto's comment and gave him a condescending look. "Like you should be talking Uzumaki, I have only met you a handful of times and even I can tell how much of an idiot you were when you were still young."

Naruto hung his head as the brothers of the Ox laughed at him, Kano was watching with a look of both amusement and confusion, why was it so bad to act before you think?

The jovial mood was cut abrupt when all five travelers felt a very powerful presence, and looked around for the source. The power did not let out any killer intent, but something that powerful must be kept an eye on, no matter where its loyalties lie. They spent a good five minutes searching until they finally recognized the power, it was the power of the biju! The power was difficult to describe, it let out signal of protection and care, but withheld a power that seemed to yell to the heavens as absolute.

Each individual eventually recognized the power as something eerily similar to their own, and hastily checked on their respective demons to see what they were feeling. The fox was calm, showing no fear or mistrust against the new arrival. Shukaku was very quiet, too quiet, as if he was going to die if he even whispered a word. The ox was restless; he was pacing around in his cage impatiently waiting for the coming vessel. Kano, shakily checked on his demon, it was also quiet, and for that he was thankful, but he could see that the shark was biting his lips so he wouldn't say anything.

All of them gave each other knowing glances, and turned to the direction of the grand power.

-

Mamoru was having a bad day, first he was called by the shogun for a personal assignment, and that always meant a lot of work, then he had to do extra chores at his forge since one of the blacksmiths fell ill. When he was finally finished with all of that he tried to raid the fridge, only to find that it has already been raided...relentlessly. Starving, Mamoru had to go out to eat, but that wasn't so bad...until he heard about the five new comers who were bad-mouthing his samurai heritage...that was not going to be tolerated.

So what did he feel when he noticed the very five souls he swore to cut up into oblivion right in front of him?

Mamoru calmly walked up to the five and stood in front of the blond, who was in the center of the group, and could very well be the leader. "So you are the five idiots who dared soil the name of the samurai?"

The entire room went cold at those words; time froze between the vessels as the rest of the village hurriedly packed away their belongings. Women carried away their children, merchants hid their goods, the old and crippled hobbled away as fast as they could, and the men readied their swords and surrounded the group.

No one noticed the sand creeping out of the ground.

Naruto had to give the samurai village credit to mobilize so quickly and efficiently, it had to have rivaled the Konoha ANBU's capabilities in coordination. As Naruto was purposely ignoring Mamoru, the said samurai was loosing his patience by the minute. How dare his fool ignore his question! While he was standing there waiting for a response, this foreigner had the audacity to ignore him in his own home!

Waiting no longer, Mamoru unsheathed his blade and sent it cascading to Naruto's head, intending to cleave Naruto into two.

Faster than Mamoru could react, Naruto had sidestepped the vertical slash and stepped behind him, then Naruto pulled out a kunai from his pouched and prepared to stab it into Mamoru's leg.

Mamoru froze, kunai where not favored by any type of warrior except ninja, the cat of the samurai dog. It was only after he felt the pain of a blade stab into his leg that he came back to Earth.

Crippled, Mamoru stumbled away a bit before recomposing himself, and with a quick hand seal, healed his leg. Leg restored, Mamoru reevaluated his opponent, he had made the idiotic error of underestimating his opponent, and rushing head-on in a rage.

A cliché gust of wind encircled the two warriors; Mamoru angled his legs and set one toward Naruto and the other facing the open space that he could use to dodge to. Naruto took another kunai from his holster to match the one in his left hand and fingered them cautiously, the cloth grip on the blades slowly soaked in the sweat his palms produced. The silence between the two was a wall between the two, the first to break the wall would start the match.

When the sound of Naruto's sandal grinding against the gravel was hear, Mamoru dashed forward with a speed unexpected of his weight. Naruto hardly had time to react as the bulky samurai drew his katana from its sheathe.

The two warriors met with a clang of metal, Naruto was quickly slashing and stabbing as fast as he could at the portly samurai, but against all logic, the sumo-samurai was able to block or dodge them all. The two danced an intricate dance of death as the steel of their blades created a symphony of clashing metal that surrounded the otherwise silent area. Neither could gain the upper hand as their more advanced techniques took too much time to begin, and each attempt to start would always end up with a glancing blow to their bodies. Ninja and Samurai were stuck in a stalemate where both are forced to use only the most basic of techniques. It was quickly becoming tiresome for both participants.

Finally breaking first, Naruto suddenly kicked out with his open kunai pouch, purposely missing so its contents would spread out to the samurai, who quickly used his blade to deflect them all. Using this time to fall back, Naruto threw his blades straight into the air and formed his hands into his most favorite technique.

"Kage-bunshin no jutsu" Whispered Naruto, he would never get tired of saying that phrase, or seeing the reactions of its target's faces.

Two more Naruto's appeared out of thin air, as did four extra kunai above them. Mamoru was then surrounded by three ninja's and six deadly blades. The other Samurai tried to enter the fray, but were suddenly stopped by a wall of sand. They turned to attack the other group but were greeted by a large leopard-like beast of sand.

_(Sunaton Hijutsu: Suna Hikyuu) _thought Gaara.

The samurai tried to unveil their blades to attack the interloper when they realize their swords were gone, when they focused back on Gaara they noticed Kanaye and Haru pulling their eyelids down and sticking their tongues out at them.

Their swords were in their hands.

The samurai could do nothing but watch as their fellow samurai fight a three on one battle, at first it seemed that Mamoru would lose, his body began to sway and his swipes started to slow, but as soon as it came it went. A surge of energy shot out through Mamoru as he released the first barrier of his seal. The armor guarding his back, glowed a vibrant black, contrasting the brown leather that made up his casual work armor.

With renewed strength, Mamoru pushed back all three Naruto's, and fell back himself to but space in between him and the copies. He quickly channeled chakra into his sword as fast as he could, in a matter of seconds his sword grew in an intense blue light as a waterfall of energy was poured into it. Once Mamoru felt that his sword could not withhold more chakra, he swiped the air eight times in quick succession. The speed and energy fed to the slices created a speeding sonic boom that was clearly visible to Naruto, but completely unnoticeable to the others.

The swipes were organized in such a fashion that it had created a shape, and when Naruto heard the name of the technique, he figured its creator wasn't all too creative.

"Rising Heavens style: Eight-Pointed Star!" Yelled Mamoru.

Yep, definitely very uncreative.

The two pairs of four chakra shockwaves spun around clockwise as they headed towards the three Naruto's, one clone was caught in the attack and sliced into a human checker board as the other two escaped with the skin of heir teeth.

The second clone was quickly dispatched as Mamoru suddenly appeared right in front of him, and in seconds was de-summoned as a blade pierced his skull.

What happened next was a complete blur. Mamoru reappeared in front of Naruto, who only survived the decapitating swipe because of his quick reflexes from being a ninja. Mamoru however, was able to knock loose one of Naruto's Kunai, causing the blond ninja to jump away and mutter out a stream of curses.

Soon after, Mamoru spun around like a top, keeping his blade close to himself. Naruto felt a vacuum of wind around him, pulling him closer to the spinning samurai. He tried to use chakra to hold his feet onto his ground, but the suction was getting stronger and stronger, slowly dragging him closer to Mamoru.

Mamoru was still spinning as if his life had depended on it, gradually increasing his speed until he was nothing more that a whirling cyclone vacuum. Once he decided his opponent was close enough, Mamoru stopped spinning and thrust out his blade towards Naruto. Naruto, who was still using his chakra to hold himself on the floor had no time to dodge as the samurai blade pierced his flesh.

The chakra that was stored in the blade during Mamoru's spinning then entered the bowels of Naruto, destroying the very organs that were within, and leaving a melted mess inside the body.

Time froze again as the two fighters stayed still for a moment, The blade sunk deeper and deeper into Naruto until the hilt rested upon his seal, the other samurai relaxed, it seemed that the threat was over with. The samurai were about to turn and face the other foreigners until they were yelled at by Mamoru, they stood at attention and grabbed their swords by reflex; only to remember that they were still missing, and stared at their current leader.

And that's when it hit them, only Mamoru was there, only Mamoru. There was no blood, no body, and no trace of the supposedly dead foreigner, the only possible evidence that anything was even there was the pile of sand at Mamoru's feet. When they turned around to look at the foreigners traveling companions, they were greeted by only their swords stabbed into the Earth accompanied with a single note weighted down by a kunai.

Mamoru walked up to the note and examined it and the kunai before picking it up and throwing it to one of the samurai who held it away from him as if it was a diseased animal.

All samurai narrowed their eyes at the kunai, and began to converse with themselves. One warrior ran to a tower that overlooked the village, while the rest called out to the villagers that the coast was clear.

Mamoru paid no attention to this as he read the note to himself, and was slightly disturbed of what he read.

_Dear Mamoru, _

_Though I really liked the little fight we just had, I have to regretfully decline your challenge right now. I am, after all, busy with other matters, but don't worry, we will see each other real soon. And don't take that the wrong way; Rest assured that I am straight like an arrow. Anyway, if you want to meet us again, be sure to be at the duel that will be occurring at your location in about two and a half an hours, we'll be waiting. _

_Later, N. U _

Mamoru stared at the note blankly for a moment as the rest of the world quickly moved back again as if nothing ever happened. Children played, mothers gossiped, merchants sold, the old reminisced about the past, and the men discussed about their duties and the upcoming duel.

Mamoru still stood at his spot as the village moved, he had only one question in his mind:

_(Who were those guys?) _

-

The said group ere inside a dark but very spacious alley on the far side of the village, the street and local area was relatively deserted, and the alley itself was a slope, with them being at the very top, a large erotic poster was at the end of the alley, with its important parts cut off, no doubt the village's women had found this alley and took matters into their own hands.

"That Was F$#)&( AWESOME!" yelled Haru, he was babbling about how great the fight was, however short it may have been, to Kano, completely disregarding the fact that Kano was standing right next to him when it happened. After a few minutes of running around like a headless chicken shooting a thousand words a minute, Haru fainted dead on the ground, the only sound in the group being his snoring.

Kanaye sighed at his brother's short energy burst. He secretly coveted those moments, it reminded him that Haru was alive. Since Haru slept nearly fifteen hours a day, Kanaye constantly stressed over the thought of Haru dieing in his sleep, but those bursts of energy told him that his ototou was still alive and kickin, or cursing as it were.

"That was an interesting turn of events, what do you think Gaara-san?" Inquired Kano, he was still a bit fuzzy in some parts, but he understood mostly what was going on. He is after all, suppose to learn from his new family.

Gaara shook his head at first, but then realized he could not help but agree with the young boy. "Yes, it was...and that was quite the final technique he used. Do you think it is his best Naruto?"

Naruto grabbed his stomach at the mention of the attack as he thought about the battle; he could not help but feel phantom pain of what could have been a very painful technique. He was very grateful he managed to use a kawamiri on Gaara's sand leopard beast, and thanked any god who was watching over him.

"Uzumaki!"

Naruto snapped out of his funk and muttered a reply to the others. "No, I doubt it, only a fool would bring out his biggest guns in their first fight."

"You mean like you did when you went up against Kakashi-san?"

Naruto snorted but kept silent, Gaara and Kanaye snickering softly at him.

Kano noticed the tension rising in his idol's shoulders, and decided to change the conversation. "So who is going to partake in the duel?"

Gaara and Kanaye suddenly stopped snickering, they would have to plan this carefully or risk loosing everything. They somehow had to convince Mamoru to join them, and proving themselves as warriors would have to suffice. That is, if he and his friends didn't kill them first for being ninjas.

Kano woke up Haru and told him that he should probably listen to the plan that the other three were making.

Naruto looked at Gaara, who nodded and turned to Kanaye, he understood the unknown conversation and made a side-ways glance at Naruto, who looked indecisive at first but then looked up with fierce determination. Gaara and Kanaye smiled at their unsaid leader's silent answer, before sitting down and started meditating, with Naruto following suite.

Kano and Haru watched the entire exchange with pure absolute confusion.

"What in the hell happened?!" Whispered Haru harshly, he did not like to be outside of the plan, especially if he was woken up for it. Why would they even wake him up if he didn't get to be a part of the plan?! Where's the logic in that!?

"If I knew such things I would explain Haru-san, but I am still learning like you so I have no answer to give." Kano frowned, would he be able to have conversations like that one day? He hoped he could, the less voices he heard in life, the better.

Haru stomped the ground "Arrgh! I hate it when they do that! Humph, well whatever. Kano can you help me set some traps around in case some of our samurai friends start snooping around?"

Kano shrugged at the question. "I don't know of such things Haru-san, but if you wish to teach me, I am wiling to learn."

Haru beamed at the response, someone wanted to learn from him! Just watch! He'll teach Kano to be the greatest trap-setter ever! Second only to him! "Great! All right Kano, I'll just tell you what our nii-sans have told me, you just so the same thing as me okay?"

Kano nodded and listened intently, he longed to be helpful and not be burden. If he learned this he could do more than just stand around hopelessly.

Throughout the next few hours, Kano observed and learned; he surprised Haru a few times with suggestions and ideas that seem to have no flaw, this fact gave a mighty blow to Haru's once proud ego, which then started to deflate rapidly when Kano was able to set multiple and extremely complex traps in a matter of minutes. Haru swore that some of the traps were so complex that it would have taken a veteran shinobi at least an hour to deconstruct it, hell it would have to take him at least half that time! Him, the master of traps!

So into completing his work that Kano did not realize the others had already woken up and were analyzing him. Kanaye was making a low whistle at how much Kano was working, Gaara nodded his head in an approving matter, and Naruto had an unfamiliar look of pride on his face.

The three experienced warriors looked at little Haru with questioning looks. Haru just shrugged in response, lost in what to say in Kano's seemingly endless talent for traps.

A loud gong off the distance brought the entire troop out of thinking, all except Kano that is, who was still working on his latest project. Naruto was the first one who walked up to Kano, but had accidentally triggered Kano's trap.

A small hail of shuriken appeared from his side, Naruto dodged them all, but then the shuriken cut a thin wire that dislodged a heavy stone from above his position, Naruto rolled to the left, and the stone fell to the ground.

And into a hidden pit with a hidden trigger inside it. The trigger was pulled by the weight of the stone that set off another wave of shuriken, some of which that landed on Naruto's arm, the remaining shuriken hit the large poster on the other side of the alley, which turned out to hide several dozen summoning scrolls.

Millions of Senbon needles shot out of the poster, triggered by the shuriken that hit their summoning scrolls, Naruto had no way to run away to, seeing as they were in an alley and the only direction was straight up, where the wave of needles were also going.

A wall of iron sand appeared in front of Naruto, either absorbing or blocking the incoming needles. Naruto sighed in relief but heard a strange sizzling sound above him, slowly, Naruto turned his head upwards, where he saw an explosion note falling on his face.

"Aw, shi-" was all Naruto managed to say before a resounding explosion cut him off.

Kano looked up from his work at the sound of the explosion, he smiled thinking he had caught an intruder, but went deathly pale as he realized what had happened. His trap was triggered by one of his own, the one that he idolized the most no less! Kano panicked, what were they going to do to him now? But, more importantly, did the one he idolized the most, live?

It was at that moment Naruto poofed into existence behind him and gave Kano a hearty pat on the back. "WOW! That was amazing Kano! I thought I was a goner for sure!"

If he knew how, Kano would have face-faulted right then and there, he was expecting something else completely different than a pat on the back.

"H-how? I t-thought for s-sure t-that you were a g-goner!"

Naruto gave off one of his trademark smiles, "Kawarimi no jutsu is such a handy technique, I switched spots with a nearby senbon-impaled barrel right before I was caught in the explosion."

Kano stared dumbly at his idol, and inspected the alley. Needles, shuriken, and kunai were scattered everywhere, the boulder he used was sitting innocently in the pit he had dug, and a giant crater marked the explosion from the note Haru gave him.

" Kano... Kano!" Naruto was getting impatient with his new friend, they only had a few minutes to get to the duel, and Kano was still staring at the damage his trap had done.

"Are you going to punish me?"

The question caught Naruto by surprise, why would he punish Kano? But he quickly realized that he must feel guilty from the trap he had set. Well, it did almost kill him, but that was a plus! That means they would be able to sleep easier if Kano set those traps before they fell asleep. Kano should be proud!

"Don't worry about this Kano-kun! Just forget about it and let's get on with life! Beside, you should be proud with what you did! You almost took out an experienced jounin-level ninja! With you're traps alone we could take out half of an entire village of ninja!" Naruto's encouragement seemed to do the job as Kano's spirits rose considerably, there was also a quick flash of a darker emotion as the beast within him toyed with the idea; an entire village…interesting.

_(Maybe that was a little much...)_ Thought Naruto as he saw the strange gleam in Kano's eyes, he would have to keep an eye on that.

"Anyway...we have to fight those samurai soon and I'm afraid that if Kanaye doesn't throw a punch at someone soon, he'll start targeting us!"

Kano gave a small smile at Naruto's statement, and walked towards the group with Naruto. Once they had gathered all together they disappeared using Gaara's version of the body flicker jutsu.

-

The Samurai were growing restless, but none more so than Mamoru. He had been waiting for the past two hours in the same damn spot! And still no sign of those foreigners! If he ever saw those five again...

Mamoru's thoughts were interrupted when he heard one of the villagers shout. A diamond-shaped dagger landed about an inch away from his foot.

Diamond shape...

Ninja...

They were here!

In a sizeable whirlwind of sand, the group that all were waiting to see appeared. Only, there seemed to be more than before.

Mamoru looked upon the new arrivals, they were a sight to see, a cat-like creature made of sand stood protectively in front of what seemed to be the weaker portion of the group, and two horse-sized toads with wicked looking axes flanked the creature.

The three others walked forward to the mob of samurai to begin the duel, their challengers from earlier walked away from their group and strode to their opponents.

Mamoru recognized all three samurai, he had forged a sword for each of them.

The one that was facing the muscular foreign ninja favored power attacks and was very advanced in hand-to-hand combat; no doubt that he chose the largest opponent in hopes of a fist fight. His name was Kuwabara, a red haired samurai with dark eyes and blue armor, his other name was the Knuckled Samurai. He had the Elephant's Tusk, a blade with no sharpened edge, but had a pointed tip for stabbing.

The red-headed ninja was facing a samurai who favored speed attacks; it was obvious why the samurai chose him as an opponent. The red-head looked very sickly and his legs looked very weak, he was also burdened with that heavy gourd on his back. He remembered that this particular samurai was very arrogant about his abilities, but rather than use word to flaunt his abilities, he used facial expressions and body posture. His actions annoy his enemies to make mistakes, of which he takes advantage of. His name was Hiei, otherwise known as the Ebony Blade for his great affinity for anything black, his sword was known as the Great Beast Shadow Sword.

The final samurai was one of the most impressive he had ever the grace to witness. He was not as fast as him, nor as strong, but he was just as skilled, if not more so. It was only his own speed and strength that allowed him to win over that samurai, and he doubted that the blond he fought would survive against him. He was known as the Silver Wind, named after his hair and armor color, no one alive knew his real name, his blade of choice was the Mercury.

Mamoru watched on, eager to see who would win.

-

The six warriors stared at their respective opponents, evaluating, calculating, and judging their strengths and weaknesses. Each was trying to find the smallest of hints on how to win, and how to insure it.

Gaara was annoyed with his opponent; it was painfully obvious to see that the idiot thought he would win. He had greeted Gaara with a scoff and kept that cocky smile on his face ever since. Said red head promised to him self to crush this guy slowly.

Kanaye could see a gleam in his opponent's eyes, and tightened his fists in apprehension. He was tired of all this waiting. He wanted to smash something, particularly the samurai.

Naruto was not really thinking about the battle, he was just hoping that everything will work in favor of his dream. But the dream will never happen if this fight doesn't take place, so with a look of determination on his face, Naruto charged the enemy.

Once Naruto had charged, the rest followed; visions of victory in their eyes.

-

---Gaara's battle---

The samurai who was facing Gaara disappeared in a blur, leaving a wisp of dirt from his previous location.

Acting purely out of instinct, Gaara ducked down and narrowly missed a decapitating swipe.

The samurai blurred out of vision again and reappeared from behind Gaara, stabbing his sword into his back.

The cut went in easy, too easy. The samurai turned to see he had stabbed a clone of his enemy, and it was made out of sand. The samurai spread his senses to find his opponent, feeling the surrounding area, using techniques he learned as a beginning samurai.

_(There!) _Thought the samurai as he turned to one direction, Hiei positioned his weapon so it faced that location and gathered chakra to his legs. In a burst of speed, the samurai sprang into his target, intending to stab right through him.

But instead of going through flesh and bone, he went through one of those strange cat-like creatures made of sand.

Gaara summoned a number of his leopard beasts to aid him, and sent them to distract the samurai while he pondered what to do. Any idiot could point out that his opponent favored speed over power.

That was not good for him; he would have to completely change his battle plan because of it. Gaara sighed; he had no choice but to ask shukaku for guidance. His experience with that one very agile shinobi from the leaf suddenly flashed into his mind, if he beat Lee, he could beat this guy easy.

That was what Gaara thought, before he saw what happened next.

The samurai had jumped away from the swarming leopard beasts and was gathering chakra into his sword, once finished, the samurai stabbed into the air, releasing the chakra into the blade's shadow.

_(Samurai jutsu: crawling shadow bullets)_ Thought Hiei as the speeding shadow spears went straight through the leopard beast's shadows, and in turn, making holes in their bodies where a real spear should have gone.

Gaara quickly assessed the situation and made a platform of sand for him to stand on, and made it large enough to cover his shadow. If the bullets ever crossed over to him, then it would only hurt his platform, not himself.

His theory was proven correct when the samurai narrowed his eyes and tried a different tactic. The samurai threw his sword like a spear to Gaara, who tilted his head to the side, dodging it completely.

Gaara was disappointed at the act, but was quickly convinced otherwise as the blade sunk into the shadows, and reappeared right below him, The blade had used the shadow's behind him to appear on the shadow he made on his platform! The clever bastard!

After jumping away from the one platform and into another, Gaara send a wave of sand shuriken to the now defenseless enemy. But cursed as he forgot to remember that his opponent specialized in speed, the samurai dodged the flying projectiles all too easily and disappeared in a blur.

Gaara sighed as he resigned himself to asking the stupid tanuki inside of him for aid.

_(Shukaku, we may need to work together if this samurai is anything like that Lee character from Konoha.) _

Shukaku's response was natural.

**FOOL! WHY SHOULD I, THE GREAT SHUKAKU LISTEN TO YOU! A WORTHLESS HUMAN? **

Stupid and egotistical.

_(If you don't, we both die. And while I have no qualms with death, you however, have a different opinion on the matter.) _

The only way to reason with a demon was to use its only fear against him, more specifically, their fear of loosing their life to anyone or anything weaker than themselves.

**FOR ONCE YOU MAY BE RIGHT GAKI, I GUESS EVEN A BLIND MAN CAN PICK THE RIGHT COLOR ONCE IF GIVEN ENOUGH CHANCES. **Gaara's eye twitched at the comment, Shukaku noticed but hardly cared.** YOU WORK WITH THE IRON SAND AND I SHALL STAY IN CONTROL OF OUR REGULAR SAND. DO NOT FORGET TO ENCASE YOURSELF IN A LAYER OF BOTH OUR SANDS. I WILL NOT DIE BY A SAMURAIS BLADE, OR BY YOUR FOOLISHNESS. **

_(...I'm glad you see it my way...) _

Gaara did as he was told, setting up a wall of iron sand around himself. He then made two pairs of eyes to observe the battlefield, and prepared for the coming fight.

The other samurai had reappeared, finished with retrieving his sword, and was now looking towards the sphere. One layer of that already difficult sand, but another layer of what seemed to be sand made of metal. That was very bad for him.

There was only one way for him to break that wall, and it was going to hurt him more that it was going to hurt his enemy, but he had no choice. There was only one technique he knew that could pierce through such a solid defense, even though it was forbidden.

The samurai concentrated, focusing chakra into both his legs and his blade. The blade started shaking under all the pressure and it hummed as if an iron bar had struck it, lightning bolts shot out of the blade and had started to burn the samurai.

Gaara had felt the amount of chakra the samurai was producing and quickly decided to reinforce his ultimate defense. This guy had already open three of the seven celestial gates, and was starting to open more. This next attack was going to be insanely powerful, and seemingly suicidal. Gaara had to admire their dedication; these samurai really meant business when they dueled.

Silently, Gaara promised himself never to insult men of honor like samurai ever again.

Slowly, the humming grew louder until it deafened the samurai's ears, and the lightning grew more erratic until it had electrocuted both of the samurais arms. Now fully prepared, the samurai charged towards Gaara in a speed equivalent to the body flicker jutsu, his body corkscrewing in the air not unlike the Inuzaka's gatsuuga.

" Thunder School's Ultimate Technique: Hurricane!"

A loud explosion rocked the nearby buildings as Gaara's ultimate defense went up against the samurai's ultimate attack. The samurai drilled deeper and deeper into the wall of sand, with each moment that passed the samurai's body burned to a higher degree, soon he will be nothing more than a pile of incinerated flesh, but he was happy. He will die in battle, and with honor, like so many other samurai dream of doing.

Gaara was maintaining the iron sand as hard as he could, keeping the wall focused in the area that the samurai is drilling in. Seconds passed like lifetimes until the inevitable climax was reached.

A flash bang of chakra was shot out, blinding all temporarily.

As the spectators looked on, they saw a badly burned samurai with overcooked arms laying motionless at the end of a trench his attack had made, a few feet away from a rather sizeable crater was being unveiled from the smoke that covered it. The smoke passed away displaying Gaara holding his heavily ripped up arm, leg, and side.

Kano and Haru ran to Gaara, set him down at the edge of a building. No one tried to bother them as the sand leopard and armed toads defended the three with vicious faithfulness. The younger two followed the older third's instruction when they applied medical aid to him, Gaara hissed and winced in pain every once in a while to show how badly his body was hurt.

As he was being treated on, Gaara was able to look on at the others fight, a bruised and bleeding Kanaye was limping towards him, a satisfied smile on his face. And Naruto…wait...What the hell!?

-

---Kanaye's Fight---

Kanye had a very simple life, because he had a very simple way of thinking.

Besides the obvious chores of eating and sleeping, his life mainly consisted of making his muscles bigger, looking out for Haru, and beating up people.

When something happened to change that system of thought, Kanaye got very angry. He was a fighter, not a thinker. Which is why he was being backed up into a wall by his opponent's blade, this samurai was a thinker, **and** a fighter!

But that didn't matter, he was a ninja, and ninja did not get very far in life without learning to at least read their opponents to a somewhat acceptable extent. Even _he_ was able to read a lot from this guy, and he was terrible at things that needed smartsy stuff.

Kanaye chuckled, samurai are almost too easy to read, they might as well right on themselves to display their fighting styles; that might make it more subtle.

His opponent was a powerhouse, a big time powerhouse that focused on straight-forward assaulting attacks. And this guy had a weapon, a strange blunt katana. Kanaye had at first passed it off as a lazy samurai who forgot to sharpen his sword.

That idea was literally sliced in half as the samurai was able to cut down a very thick tree with a sword that was probably less effective at cutting things than a wooden club.

Kanaye shook his head as he thought about the stereotypical relationship of a samurai and his sword. Why would they coddle a weapon so much? Or even kill themselves with it if they were to loose? Samurai's are so confusing...like women on PMS, or old people who speak in riddles, or toothless children who can't form a single syllable from their mouths…

Kanaye's mental rambling were cut short as he noticed the blunt, but deadly blade come at him in a sideways strike, intending to split his bottom half away from him.

Kanaye jumped, his sandal soles missing the blade with an only minimal margin of space.

That's when Kanaye noticed something, he was stuck! Gravity will come into play and he plummet like a stone, and fall straight into the samurais arms. He already noticed that the samurai fell into stance, his blunt katana ready at his side. Kanaye had to think, fast.

By using what Kanaye would define only as divine intervention, Kanaye temporarily had a genius moment. He had reached into his kunai pouch that he had _relieved_ from the hidden grass just slightly before his joining of Yoinokuchi, and threw a trio of blades at the samurai.

Surprised, but prepared, the samurai deflected all of the incoming knives, allowing a small window of time for Kanaye to escape.

Kanaye made it just in time as he landed and ducked to the ground the second the samurai deflected the last blade, and as if almost practiced out, Kanaye sent his leg crashing into the samurai's sword arm, knocking the blade free from the samurai's grip.

At that moment, if it was possible, Kanaye would have patted himself on the back. Without his sword, any samurai was powerless!

Or so Kanaye thought.

He was rudely brought out of his temporary celebration, by a powerful right hook of astronomical proportions.

Kanaye skidded a few dozen feet away, a got up very slowly, that attack hit him square in the chin, and it hurt like hell.

Kanaye berated himself for giving the samurai a chance to get his sword. That is until he noticed that the samurai was patiently waiting for him, arms crossed.

"Why didn't you go for your sword?" Asked Kanaye.

The samurai remained silent.

"You would've secured your victory with that sword, you know that right?"

The samurai shrugged, but still said nothing.

"...Fine, be like that. I thought we ninja's were the secretive ones, now it seems I have been proven different neh?"

The samurai fell into stance, but his face did not move a muscle.

"...Let us begin..." Were Kanaye's words before he attacked the samurai.

The samurai charged at that same moment, with a sign of a smile on his face.

The two clashed with a loud smack of flesh, sending kicks and combos at each other, neither giving the other and inch of ground.

Kanaye brought his left hand to back-hand the samurai, who responded by elbowing it out of the way and sending a powerful right hook to Kanaye's exposed face.

Kanaye bent his head backwards, narrowly missing the giant fist. The samurai lost balance, sending in too much power into the attack and leaving himself wide open to attack, Kanaye took advantage of this and sent a knee straight into the samurai's stomach.

The attack landed, knocking the air out of the samurai, further distorting him. Kanaye crouched and tripped the samurai into falling flat on his stomach.

Kanaye rotated from his attack until he was facing away from the samurai, and with perfect timing, kicked his feet up until he stood up on his hands. Kanaye was now hand standing in the direction of the samurai, he leaned forward until his leg were carried by gravity and slammed onto the samurais unprotected back, undoubtedly breaking a number of bones.

"The Great Bull's Stomp, my personal technique"

Kanaye back flipped away from his opponent, confident he had won. He had not taken three steps when he felt the most tremendous pain he had ever felt slam into chest.

The samurai had not yet fallen. He had taken a bad hit, but was not out of the fight. By will that might have rivaled the Sun of Konoha, he had stood up, charged, and sent a terrifying elbow to Kanaye's solar plexus, causing him to fly a good three yards away.

Kanaye coughed out a mouthful of blood, and shakily got up. That hit really hurt him bad...If it were not for a lifetime of muscle-building and demon hosting, he certainly would not be alive right now, let alone conscious.

But his enemy was just as bad as shape as he was in, his Great Bull Stomp was no beginners technique, and could break boulders if need be. But he had another technique like that, and it could win this fight...if the samurai would hold still for a moment.

From the distance he was at, all he needed was three seconds. But those three seconds could cost him his life if his opponent was fast enough.

He then felt the two massive chakra out bursts of Gaara and his opponent, if those chakra's clashed, and they undoubtedly will, it would create a flash bright enough to still his opponent long enough for the 'Six Demon Horns'.

Kanaye summoned chakra from his pre-set reserves, and let it flow into his arms and hands. Once he was satisfied with the amount, he waited patiently for the eminent flash bang to occur.

He and the samurai glared at each other from across their battlefield. To them, nothing else existed but the other and victory. How the two would decide the final victory between each other would remain a pointless mystery to the other. All that mattered was one would walk away, and the other would never walk again.

The flash had arrived as Kanaye had predicted, and to his luck, the samurai did not prepare for it, rendering him blind for the precious seconds Kanaye needed.

Kanaye charged it, arms powered up, and ready to strike. His first target was the samurai's shoulder blades.

"First Horn!" Yelled out Kanaye as he brought down his arms on the samurais shoulders, the force of the blow was so strong that one could see the arms visibly detach from their place and slump down lower than they should have. Hah! The stupid f$#$, can't throw those damn punches anymore!

"Second Horn!" Continued Kanaye as he chopped the samurai's remaining ball and socket joints on his hips, the joint was completely separated; disconnecting the samurai's legs from his hips, leaving them useless.

_(Arms and legs gone)_, Kanaye thought as he ignored the pain increasing in his chest, a bone must have cracked when he was hit..."Third Horn!"

Kanaye slammed the samurai in the solar plexus, sending the warrior flying back. Usually the attack would be a flat palm into the stomach, but today was different.

Kanaye ran as fast as he could, reaching the area where the body would fly to before it got there. "Fourth Horn!" Kanaye yelled, he had clasped his hands together and had swung upward. The samurai flew hopelessly into the air with no chance of escape.

"Fifth horn!" Kanaye had jumped higher than the still rising body, and had done a double-handed downward strike onto him, causing his opponent to crash to the ground like a comet.

"Final Horn!" Screamed Kanaye as he crashed feet-first into the already defeated Samurai, Kanaye had force so much chakra into the last attack that is had created a sizeable dust cloud up into the air. If the samurai had been able to get up before, he could not have now.

When the dust settled, Kanaye stared at his fallen opponent. He was smiling. It was not a boisterous grin as if he won the lottery, or a smile you earn when you hear a stupid if funny joke. No, this smile was one of gratitude. It was a pleasant smile that held an entire story behind it, a story that would remain a mystery to Kanaye.

Kanaye, felt another wave of pain run through him. The cracks in his bones were getting worse. He gave a final look to the samurai he had just defeated, he would one day find out his story, but for now he will be content with his victory.

Kanaye walked back to the others, Gaara was already there, and was a bloody mess, but he was still alive. For that Kanaye was thankful, he smiled to the others as he walked close and propped himself next to his companions, once he was sufficiently wrapped up. He looked on to Naruto's fight.

What he saw was a white-haired man in black robes and red clouds. He had two crazy-looking swords made of bone in his hands. An army of skeletons in samurai armor behind him, and he looking straight at a Kyuubified Naruto.

Kanaye's next words were openly sympathized with everyone not part of the seemingly endless undead army.

"Ah fuck"

'Ah fuck' indeed.

-

The stranger sighed as the children pined and whined, they were begging for the next part of the story, even though they already knew it. He also noticed that some of the parents were coming closer. He guessed that they do not see him as a threat anymore, but he could still feel the gaze of some hidden ninja around him. At least he was progressing in the social standings a bit, not that he ever cared for such things, they always made things more complicated than they had to be.

Some of the parents actually have him a polite nod before picking up their kid or kids, at that was kind of nice. Others simply gave him a blank stare as a subtle warning not to try anything, or else; that was kind of not nice. But hey, they were parents, they had to act like assholes to strangers around their kids. They wouldn't want to make another Orochimaru now would they?

Hey, wait a minute…did he just compare himself to a body-snatching pedophile? Eww he did! Ugh, he really needed to work on his self-confidence if he was thinking like that.

Giving Rai the signal to go ahead without him, the visitor left in another direction, hoping to find something in Konoha's night life to distract from his deeply disturbing thoughts. He vaguely caught Rai saying something about sunrise tomorrow before turning the corner. HEY! It was the old porn shop from way back when! Wonder if they still sell those certain things…

They still did.

The visitor gave a cross between an evil and perverted laugh as he rubbed his hands in a demented manner and stalked creepily into the sex shop, all previous thoughts of naked children were miraculously purged from his mind as he saw entire shelves of naked women in provocative poses…very provocative poses. The stranger drooled lightly at the commodities the store had, and his thoughts slowly drifted away from tomorrow morning and closer to the current moment.

After all tomorrow was still another twelve hours away, with another chapter as a promise.

-

**I'M FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!**

**No more homework! No more dreaded AP tests! No more inrense studying fordays at a time! No more nada! HAHAHA!**

**Ok, now time to settle down. I believe you all want an explanation for my abscence, that is if you even know who I am. Well, I've been stiffed up to my eyeballs in homewrok, studying, projects, and junk since Feburary, so I had no time to work on my little project. And when I did have time, I had no idea what to write since I was so stuffed wiith technical info I had no mre creative spark. But all that's in the past! I'm free to type when I want, where I want, and how long I want. And it feels damn good! By the way, I have rewtitten the entire thing if you had missed the blatantly obvious sign on the summary, another reason why this took so long to come out.So if you want, re-read from teh beginning, I personally think it is waaaay better than before.**


	8. Chapter 7: Enter The Bloodlines!

**_A Hero In Distress? A Damsel To The Rescue!_**

I don't own Naruto...but I can dream can't I?

-

Saturday's were such lovely days. They gave everyone a chance to relax. Save for one unidentified foreign inhabitant.

Konoha's recent visitor walked down an alley at an exhausted pace, he had spent most of yesterday's remaining day and moonlight _touring_ the shop on his own, and the entirety of his lower body ached in protest from not taking a break _once_ the entire time. But he was happy nonetheless with his decision, it was rare to visit a place as unique as a ninja village, and Konoha was certainly not an exception. They had very interesting tastes in their pornographic material…very interesting.

Sure he was not exactly welcomed with open arms in either the village or the shop, but that is to be expected. Paranoid security-obsessed ninja lived a lot longer than the careless type, and since living was a good thing…well it wasn't like it was hard to understand. That and the ninja have probably ripped off a fortune on the old man's merchandise. He wondered if any ninja decided to follow him inconspicuously since his little promenade started; and also racked his brain on how that old guy's shop stays in business.

His assumptions were proven correct as a squad of Elite ANBU appeared before him. At first no one said anything, until one of the ANBU threw a scroll at the stranger. The stranger made a show about being exclusively cornered by Konoha's finest and flamboyantly picked up the scroll and read it with an increasing frown on his face.

With an annoyed snort, the stranger rolled the scroll to its previous form and hurled it back to its courier. "Tell the old fart of a Hokage that I will come and visit him when I do not have any other priorities that I have to settle. The Hokage will understand, so I'll be there when I need to be."

The ANBU pocketed the scroll in sac behind him and shared a look with his or her teammates, the stranger wondered if the person was a chest-heavy male, or a severely underdeveloped woman. Then again, both images repulsed him so he'd rather not think about it. The stranger walked away contemplating those thoughts, but had not taken his third step when a senbon was shot between his toes.

The stranger sighed and turned back to the ANBU. "ANBU-san, can you please do me a favor?"

The ANBU did not respond. Then again, the stranger didn't expect them to.

The stranger stretched out his right arm and used a different finger on his right hand to point at the five respective ninja's. "Don't scream too much, I don't want to wake the neighbors."

A single-handed seal, and flash later, the ANBU squad was writhing in agony. The stranger cast a genjutsu forcing them to witness and feel the worst horrors of mankind for the past five thousand years.

Ok, so it was really four-thousand three-hundred eighty-six years, but five thousand sounded way more ominous...and cooler too.

The stranger noticed a mother bird delivering food to her young in a nearby tree, and thought of the children. The visitor smacked himself on the forehead, he had just remembered everyone was meting early today since classes were out. The stranger looked at the rapidly rising sunrise. It would not be long until story time, so he had better get going. The stranger took a scroll from out of his own pocket and wrote a message in it. He sealed it and wrote the symbols for Hokage, indicating it was meant for the Hokage's eyes only. Once done he left it on the floor for the ANBU to deliver it. The second he was sure the group would find the note, he ran as fast as he could to the meeting spot.

It took him only a few seconds to reach the place, and it cost some person's very well-kept garden and a young couple's moment of bliss as he tore through them both with reckless abandon.

The moment he saw the children and Rai waiting patiently just a few meters ahead, the stranger leapt into the air and landed squarely in front of his seat. When the stranger sat down, Rai continued the tale.

-

The fight between Naruto and the third samurai was not faring well for Yoinokuchi.

Naruto noticed that his brothers were faring much better against their opponents than he was, but it was really no surprise to him. Considering he was the only one in unfamiliar territory.

Gaara had undoubtedly faced against these samurai before, his temporary role as Kazekage had made sure that. And Kanaye was now fighting his opponent in hand-to-hand combat, an area that he specialized equally, or possibly even greater than Lee.

But he was fighting his all just to keep what little ground he had! This samurai was easily as skilled as Mamoru, but he was neither as strong nor as fast. And Naruto thanked any gods or goddesses out there who made this fact true.

But that did not change the fact that he was losing.

His own punches and kicks, which were usually able to dent, if not break most metals, groaned in pain every time he landed a blow on the samurai. Tossing kunai and shuriken was both a waste of time and money as the flimsy projectiles ricocheted harmlessly when they contacted the metal behemoth. A well-placed ransengan could turn the tide to his favor, but how was he going to get in close enough to land the damn thing?! That freaking blade was getting in the way!

The samurai's movements were already as fluid as any experienced ninja's, but were made much more deadly thanks to the Katana he wielded. Naruto had also eventually noticed that the samurai's armor seemed to hide his chakra levels, a strange thing indeed, it reminded him too much of the chakra armor of the Hidden Snow. So not only was he fighting an enemy with some kick-ass moves, but had some kick-ass weaponry too! Fuck!

Unconsciously, Naruto's eyes turned red as his body slowly oozed red energy. Neither the warriors nor the crowd noticed.

Naruto's angered musings had left him open to attack, and the samurai had taken the opportunity without a second thought. The unnamed warrior swung his mercury blade in an upward vertical strike, hoping to open the ninjas belly in a clean efficient blow. But it was not meant to be as Naruto disappeared in a cloud of smoke the moment the blade slit his skin open.

The samurai, dumbfounded for a moment, had no time to react when he felt a heavy blow to his left side. Turning to see where he would land, the samurai was astounded to see another fist greet him and send him to a completely different direction. Dazed, confused, and all-round awed at what was happening, the hapless samurai was then launched into the air by four well-timed powerful kicks from below. It was only in the air when the samurai finally regained his focus, the series of blows was meant to muddle his mind and send him into disarray, allowing his enemy to land quick efficient blows.

But the last attack dealt to him was a puzzle, why was he launched into the air? The samurai turned to look at the floor and was annoyed to find nothing. Where had the ninja gone? A proper warrior would not have let such a combination of moves unfinished…

Horror came to the samurai mind as he felt the ninja just behind him in the air.

Naruto smirked and brought his left hand back. "Sayonara samurai."

The samurai felt as if a hurricane had erupted in his back. Twisting, ripping, mind-blowing pain rippled throughout his body as his nerves screamed in pain during whatever it was the ninja had used on him. He was only vaguely aware he had slammed in to the floor as he spun like a children's toy to the Earths surface. The impact between the falling man and solid stone floor was deafening to say the least.

Naruto landed a careful distance away, ransengan or no ransengan, that guy still had armor on. And a very silvery and very sharp blade in hand, he wasn't going to lose his life now just by being arrogant that he though his opponent was defeated. That's how he almost killed that glasses-wearing ass-kisser Kabuto way back then.

His patience was awarded when the samurai stood awkwardly on his legs for a second, just before standing straight and stepping out of the crater he had caused. He made a show of brushing stray bits of dust from his remaining armor before falling into stance once more. Naruto noted that he was on a more defensive stance this time, and smiled a proudly at the fact he was able to scare the guy to wait for him to attack. Now the battle was in his favor, the samurai had lost most of his armor, and his secrets have been revealed to Naruto.

_(Hah!) _Thought Naruto triumphantly. _(Uzumaki 1, nameless samurai jerk 0) _

Naruto made a single hand-seal and several clones appeared around him, and mentally ordered them to prepare their kunai and shuriken before sending them into the shadows. Naruto then brought out two kunai and tied two pieces of paper to them.

By this time the samurai had grown beyond suspicious, the role the copies would play were fairly obvious, they would cover the original as he attacked him head-on. But what purpose did those pieces of paper play? Knowing ninja, it would be something undoubtedly surprising and totally unexpected.

The samurai had not another thought as Naruto began his assault with his kunai, his form was sloppy and experimental compared to that of the beautiful evasive maneuvers the samurai demonstrated. But what Naruto lacked in finesse, he made up in natural instinct. Although the samurai was able to block, parry, and evade the blonde's frontal assault; he found in disturbing annoyance that he could hardly retaliate effectively. The blonde seemed to always know exactly where, when, and how to move just by simply guessing where his sword would go.

The samurai did not know whether his opponent was a genius in the art of combat, or simply one of the luckiest fools that he ever had the grace to meet.

When he was able to land a shallow cut just below his enemy's last true rib, (1) his opponent let loose a stream of curses that would have made a son of a sailor glow red in indignation. The samurai decided the man was the latter of the two.

Naruto curses made some of the onlookers shoo the more innocent children away in a vain attempt to keep what little mannerisms they had. The blonde decided to screw it all and to go ahead with his grand scheme ahead of schedule. He closed his hands into another seal and focused his chakra to one of the explosion notes, but before he had the chance to finish the samurai has already jumped forward intending to impale him with his sword.

Good thing for the blonde that the samurai's target was another shadow clone…a clone that had just activated the explosion notes in his hands.

The two explosions rocked the immediate area roughly. Most of the unrefined civilians of the crowd fell flat on their asses, while the more experienced individuals simply lost their balance. Either way, it distracted them long enough to miss a certain orange blur appear from underground.

Naruto was fairly certain that he had won, and kept his arms loose. His relaxed breathing took a universal effect on his body as it slowed down along with it. Naruto began to walk to the group with a wide smile on his face, but his smile quickly changed as a blade popped out of his right shoulder.

The samurai who Naruto had though long defeated let a cough escape his lips. "My left eye has been blinded by your attack, and my reaction time has slowed. Had I been in better condition, that sword would have pierced your heart."

Naruto said nothing as he was too busy screaming in pain as the sword burned within his wound. It was nothing like he ever felt before, it was as if the metal inside was _moving_, no _slithering_ inside him. What kind of twisted weapon did that crazy fuck have?!

The samurai kept a calm demeanor as he twisted the blade in Naruto. He neither felt pity or contempt on the blonde victim. He simply sought victory. "I take it from your yells that you are now feeling Mercury's special trait. The name should more than suffice for the explanation. I am not terribly creative with names." The samurai gave another twist and withdrew the blade a few centimeters, only to slam it back into the blonde ninja. "The element mercury at room temperature is a liquid metal that is poisonous to the body. My blade must be kept at constant super-cool temperatures to let it retain a solid shape." The samurai repeated his previous action, and Naruto repeated his. "Right now you are feeling the blade liquefy inside of you, as your own natural chakra coil system disrupts my own, allowing it to entangle your organs and-"

The samurai never finished his line as a red coat of chakra enveloped Naruto, and snapped angrily at the nameless warrior.

The surprised warrior instinctually retrieved his blade from his enemy's body and stepped back to avoid the living aura. What the hell was going on? He had the blonde on his knees! How is he fighting back?

The red chakra finished enveloping Naruto quickly, it did not allow time for the samurai to strike again as the wound the warrior had made quickly disappeared under the red energy's care. By Kyuubi's will the wound was gone before Naruto knew it, and used the chakra to burn away the material that hid the third eye from the rest of the world. Soon Naruto's transformation was complete, as he became an unspeakable apparition of terror. His human form remained, but had become more bestial…more demonic. As his muscles increased in size, Naruto's tooth and nail became fang and claw, his third eye twisted and squirmed no normal should and occasionally popped out of its socket before sucking itself back in. The greatest embodiment of his power however, were the two tails swaying madly behind him, writhing in anticipation for any form of combat.

The samurai had no outward reaction to the transformation, or was it possession? Instead the samurai mechanically fell into another stance and prepared to charge once again, this time intending to kill the beast outright. This was not a battle of honor anymore; instead it was a battle of survival. He fought for his life, and the lives around them. He then heard shuffling footsteps coming from the crowds, they were light and close together, it seems the children were being led away. Good, one less thing to worry about.

The samurai angled the blade so it was pointed directly at the monster, it was one of the most basic stances taught it all forms of battle, it was also one of his more effective tactics. Those who knew the way of the sword make the amateurish mistake of judging his skill by the stance, and usually fall into pieces after their arrogance clouds their judgment. Those who didn't became defensive, and stayed at a distance, seemingly trying to avoid the blades puncturing ability. Those fell faster than the arrogant, their ignorance of the sword and instinct to stay away from the swords tip led them directly into the trap that the samurai's stance had set.

The samurai had never fought anyone who didn't take either reaction, those who have witnessed the technique only lived through if they were a third party watching from afar. All who have gone against the technique had died, having made one of the two mistakes. Any who had ever witnessed the technique were exempt from ever having to be subjected to it, for once seen, it is rendered useless. For all its effectiveness to the arrogant and ignorant, the technique is all powerless against the wise and experienced who could spot the techniques most fatal flaw. The samurai was fairly confident that the blonde idiot would make a mistake and fall to his trap, its not fait that only ninja could fight deceptively now was it?

In what would the samurai would later remember as divine irony, Naruto neither retreated nor arrogantly charged forward in blind glee, instead the blond did what he had always done at his best. He played the samurai the fool.

The 'Naruto' in front of the samurai disappeared into a cloud of smoke, the ninja's technique was growing increasingly tiresome and disturbing to the nameless samurai. Just how many times could the ninja do that? It had to make much energy to use to be sure! It is not normal, even to modern warrior standards, for someone to have that much power!

In his _own_ arrogance, _not_ the ninja's, he had left himself completely open to attack, the clones who had hidden before jumped from places he never knew humans could fit before. Red-colored fists and feet slammed into his already crumbling armor, the attacks were as numerous as they were efficient. He was never struck where his muscles were densest, instead he felt blow upon blow on the more tender spots of his body. Between his ribs, the space between his shoulder blade and collar bone, just below his armpit, and of course, the ninja's most favorite target: his chin. Oddly enough his testicles remained completely unharmed, and for that the samurai was eternally grateful.

The entire barrage was very humbling for the samurai. Never had he fought an enemy such as the one in front of him. He was unpredictable, relentless, quick-witted, and seemingly invulnerable; all the while keeping a sense of honor unseen by any other man or woman in his profession. The nameless samurai found himself admiring the blonde; and soon regained vitality. He would not let this fight end here! He will show this ninja just who was superior!

The samurai twisted in the air and grabbed the wrists of the assaulting clones. He then sent them both flying into the stone walls of the nearby buildings. Both dispersed from the world with a ludicrous pop, and the samurai found himself the center of the blonde's attention. Naruto lashed out an arm, and entire tendril of red energy leapt at the nameless warrior. The samurai dodged nimbly, and re-sheathed his blade. Naruto became frustrated and began flailing both of his arms in attempt to hit something, the samurai gave a silent curse before sheathing his blade and jumping to and fro, he was now completely focused on dodging the chakra appendages.

Finally realizing that this was going nowhere, Naruto then recalled his arms, and made a few hand-seals. The samurai took advantage of this delay and charged at Naruto.

Naruto finished the seals just before the samurai took out his sword, and slammed his hands to the ground. He then brought his hands back up, brining a wall of stone along with it.

_(Earth Element: Gaia's Curtain...) _Thought Naruto

It was a technique the Kyuubi had 'taught' him via his new third eye. The fox-bastard named after the Earth itself, for which Naruto was surprised at. The name was actually from an ancient civilization that had been destroyed over ten thousand years before. It was interesting to know, but irrelevant, he forced himself to focus on the battle once more.

The samurai's sword bounced off harmlessly from the stone barrier and he retreated a few yards. He fell into stance once more and waited patiently for his opponent to strike first, he knew better than to attack a defense with an enemy of unknown strength waiting just behind.

Naruto, feeling his cue, delivered the offense by pulling out the curtain of stone he had made from the ground and threw it to the samurai. While the curtain flew, Naruto made another hand seal, causing the great stone barrier to liquefy into mud. Had the village be in different circumstances, the local children might have jumped into the liquid dirt with youthful appreciation. Mud was fun to them, and they knew fun couldn't hurt them, right?

The samurai made no effort to dodge the attack, it was after all only mud, and was covered head to toe in the semi-aqueous substance.

Naruto smiled at his good fortune of having one more opponent underestimate him, and hurriedly made another hand seal, the tiger seal.

Chakra flew into the mud at a pace unseen by any other technique, the tiger seal was causing the mud to heat up. The samurai noticed all too late as the heat caused the mud to solidify into a hardened mud, not only making feel like he had spent months without bathing, but also slowing him down to a near stop. Strangely enough, the heat continued to grow, defying all physics as it began solidifying the mud into solid rock. Soon the samurai was encased in an unmoving casket, not unlike Gaara's Desert Coffin.

The samurai grunted in annoyance, it was too difficult for him to exit out of the stone with his strength alone. He was very lucky he still had his hand on his katana when the mud formed into stone. He was still able to channel energy into his blade and do his techniques.

The samurai then felt something new. The stone was starting to burn. He attempted to look at the ninja he was facing.

The boy was still channeling chakra into the stone, and the heat was still rising. The Stone was beginning to glow red from the temperatures they were reaching, and if the technique was let to alone progress, he would undoubtedly burn to death.

Frantic, the Samurai focused as much chakra as he could into his blade without it losing its form. When the sword was maxed out, the samurai molded the chakra into the tip of the blade; compacting it to a single point on the tip. When all the chakra was compacted, the samurai released the contained energy.

Naruto was blown away from the resulting explosion and was amazed to see that the samurai had exited unscathed, but was relieved to see that his remaining armor had not.

Piece by piece the broken set of armor fell off, the loud thud created when the armor hit the ground gave a clear indication that the armor weighed dozens of pounds.

Naruto formed the seals for a summoning but ended in the same strange seal that was seen before, this time, instead of summoning the toads he was contracted with, Naruto summoned a sword. Naruto gave his widest smirk to the samurai. He had been absolutely starved for a chance to use this thing. Ever since the Kyuubi let it slip through the third eye Naruto had been desiring it more and more, he had come close to simply summoning the damn thing to chop up some firewood. But it looks like he didn't need to do that now, now was the perfect time to show it off.

Off in the sidelines, Mamoru was completely transfixed on the sword. He was fascinated by the sword to a degree never felt by him before, it was a type unseen by him, and it captured his attention as easily as fire did to a moth. It just felt so…familiar…he wondered why that was?

The actual metal was black, meaning it was tempered more times than the number of days it has seen. That in itself was impressive. The sword was curved twice, presenting the blade as a strange s-shape. The hilt was wrapped in dark-brown leather, and had a scarlet red rope swinging off of it. The hilt guard was obviously worked on by a master craftsman for endless days, it depicted nine animals, the most distinguishable being a fox with nine tails.

And an Elephant with eight tusks...eight tusks…no it couldn't be…could it?

The dueling samurai facing Naruto regarded the new blade before regarding at his own. His would not suffice for the fight to come. The samurai then stuck his own sword into the ground. The blade sunk until only the hilt was visible, focusing, the samurai brought his blade back up with a yell.

The once shiny silvery blade was now a dull Earthy brown. It's subtle, elegant curve was replaced with a military efficient straight blade. The sword itself seemed to have thicken; and grown in length, but at the cost of its actual sharpened edge. Naruto scrunched his face in confusion, what was a sword if it wasn't sharp?

The samurai tried to keep a cool visage as he held the blade, but had failed to do so. Little by little his weaknesses began to show, a small muscle spam here, a drop of sweat there, it wasn't long until the samurai started to feel his breath quicken. This particular style took too much energy for his liking, but he could not argue with the results it gave. The samurai slowly moved the blade into a defensive position, he fully expected the ninja to attack head on and clash his sword with his own.

Instead, Naruto simply swung his sword in the air causing a curved wave of energy to spiral towards the samurai.

Through the third eye Naruto received memories of the Kyuubi of the techniques and attacks of the sword _(Sword of the Great Tailed Beasts: Two Tail's Talon.) _As Naruto held the sword and unleashed the attack, he felt himself losing hold of his mind. These techniques…these powers…were simply amazing! Naruto felt the rush unlike anything before. Fighting an undefeatable enemy, learning a new jutsu, even eating the old man's ramen didn't feel as good as this! The control! The possibilities! The power! It was slowly infecting Naruto, and the blonde never took notice…or never really cared.

The energy strike spun around in the air like a boomerang, it created small twisters that shook up the ground below and threw the nearby rocks around the area, no small number was sent towards the nameless warrior, who had finally sprung into action.

The samurai had responded by swinging his blade upwards in an interesting fashion. The samurai moved his sword as if he was simply dancing, making his body twist this was and that, taking the sword with him as he went. The dancing was not without purpose, as the dancing was commanding the ground to move along with it. When the samurai rose his sword the Earth mimicked his command as the earth in front of him to rose and intercepted the miniature twister attack.

Nit stopping there, the samurai kept momentum by guiding his blade downwards and pivoted on his point a full three-hundred sixty degrees. When he stopped in front of the ninja he thrust his sword as fast as he could toward the blonde, commanding the Earth to charge the other at full speed. Naruto quickly sent another talon to the incoming wave, but jumped back nonetheless, that thing looked way too dangerous.

When the techniques collided, dust and smoke rose from the contact, enshrouding both Naruto and the samurai in smoke. When the curtain lifted, it showed Naruto with a different sword. The blade this time was straight like the samurai's own. The metal was now a clear white, the once ornate hilt had changed to a much more simpler design. The wrist guard had gone from nine great beasts to two elegantly simple bird wings, the bottom of the hilt was the head of a bird of prey leering dangerously at all who gazed at it. The last change was than it now had two pale strips of white silk hanging off the hilt, rather than the single red one from before.

Naruto summoned another troops of shadow clones to distract the samurai as he disappeared from view.

The samurai defeated the troop of clones rather easily, waving the sword in the charging clone's direction, created a tremor to pass through under their feet.

"Great Mole's Tremor, and Porcupines Tail Shot" The samurai whispered to himself happily.

Knocked out of balance, the clones had no time to dodge when they were impaled with a shower of stone-needles.

After the attack had been completed, Naruto jumped out from the shadows behind the samurai, sword in front, protecting his face. His sword, once again different, once simple and straight; the blade had changed to a curved scimitar of a golden brown color. Blue-black marks ran down the flat of the blade, the handle was carved to look like an hourglass. Once again, the flowing cloths had turned from a pair of white silk strips to a single piece of brown aged leather.

"Sword of the Nine Tailed Beasts: One Tail's Storm!"

Naruto spun around on the spot where he was at, and all of the neighboring dust was sucked towards him, creating a violent dust storm.

The samurai slammed both of his feet into the ground so he wouldn't be sucked into the eye of the storm, were Naruto lay await. He felt the buffeting pain of the sand slamming onto his frame and was quickly running out of air to breathe, the fine dust instead filling his lungs besides the precious air his body needed.

The samurai brought his sword up once more, but the Earth did not move. The samurai concentrated, his breathing stopped, and all he could hear was the roar of the flying sands.

The Samurai's eyes snapped open as he smashed his sword to the ground, "Avatar Sword Technique: Mountain Breaker!" The land shook uncontrollably as the sword hit the ground, the samurai was propelled to the sky from the force of the attack, free from the storm and free to breathe.

Naruto stopped spinning as the heavy earthquake shook him until he fell. Naruto then used his sword to balance himself as he made an attempt to stand.

The samurai free-fell to the ground gracefully; and landed in the stance that started the duel, Naruto had not even fully stood up yet. Taking advantage of his opponent's vulnerability, he was confident that he had won the duel. Eagerly, he dashed, blade poised to make the killing blow.

But before the samurai could complete his moment of triumph, a spear made of bone shot out and landed right in between of the samurai and Naruto, if the samurai had not stopped and jumped away when he did, he might have been fatally injured.

As the samurai and Naruto looked at the direction that the arrow was shot, they were both greeted by an army of undead skeleton samurai. Their leader looked down on them from the highest point, the mountain cavern's lanterns blazing behind him, blades of bones forming from his skin.

From another part of the area, Naruto heard Kanaye mutter the exact same words he was feeling.

"Ah Fuck"

-

Naruto couldn't believe his crappy luck, sure he knew eventually they would encounter Akatsuki, in fact, he had a bet with Gaara when that would happen. Seems he lost. Damn, now he owed Gaara ten bowls of ramen. That is, assuming they would get out of there alive.

Naruto had no illusions to his power, though he and Gaara had gained tremendous amount of it from the pact with their respective demons, they were still no where near the levels of Akatsuki. They had made a huge jump in that direction, but it was still a long ways away.

Kanaye would probably be the strongest out of all of them if his seal didn't have that Chakra limit. It would be a lot easier to make the pact, but it was not strong enough, it would only kill both Kanaye and his demon if he tried to apply it. Kano was a wild card, no one knew how much potential he had in fighting, but if it was anywhere near the potential he had with traps, then he could probably one day take out Akatsuki all on his own.

But that was dreaming an impossible dream.

And Mamoru...with the information that they had received from the stranger, had enough power to hold his own against someone at least at Kisame's or Sasori's level, but sadly not enough to beat them. He would include young Haru, but he was still a child, not much better than Kano, but Haru had no demon as Kanaye would be fighting. Naruto could not really decide if that was a blessing or a burden.

Naruto gave a quick glance to his group, and was no happy at what he saw.

Haru was shakily standing on his wobbly legs, Kano was fussing over a half-dead Kanaye, and Gaara was missing half of his body.

Naruto turned back to the newly arrived Akatsuki member, he looked very familiar. The sterile white hair and extremely pale skin reminded him of the Kiminaro character he and Gaara faced back when he attempted to retrieve Sasuke. In fact, he looked almost exactly like him...oh shit.

Naruto summoned as many clones as he could with his remaining natural human chakra, He would not suffer since he was in his Kyuubi state right now, but he'll be aching later. Naruto sent the clones to attack and delay the army of the undead. He himself went to his heavily injured friends. "Guy's? Guys! come on, we got a huge fight in our hands! Call up your 'tenants' for healing and lets get go kick some Akatsuki ass!"

Gaara and Kanaye stared weakly at Naruto before closing their eyes and focusing their chakra's. Soon, Gaara's form was surrounded by an eerie yellow light, and Kanaye was blanketed in a dark green aura. Their wounds closed quickly, and the exhaustion that the two previously felt was now gone. The two slowly rose until they were standing on their own two feet again. Gaara's side no longer looked like it was missing over half of what it was, and Kanaye appeared that he came out of a spa rather than a beating.

Haru and Kano looked relieve to see their family heal so effectively, but were quickly subdued when they heard countless screams of pain in the direction of the undead army.

Naruto's shadow clones were falling fast, in fact, there were only three left. And the other army looked like they haven't lost a single soldier. The reason was soon discovered why when the last three clones moved in with a final charge.

The clones would destroy a skeleton, maybe even a half a dozen at a time with a well placed ransengan, and then fall back to catch some breath. But the Akatsuki member made that tactic useless when he focused on the fallen skeletons. The broken and splintered bones would reconnect and heal until they were one again, reforming the skeleton until it was good as new. Additionally, the Akatsuki member would shoot out bullets of bones out of his fingers, effectively destroying Naruto's clones.

"Shit!" Naruto cursed, an opponent with ranged capabilities, he and Kanaye were effectively screwed fighting this guy, especially since they loved getting into the face of their opponent. Gaara would have to hold him off. "Gaara, I know this is a lot to ask of you but can you..."

"Do not worry Uzumaki I have fought against his kind before, when my siblings and I aided you in retrieving the traitor."

Naruto winced at the word 'traitor', he knew he shouldn't have, but still. Though what Gaara said did help him remember stuff of that Kiminaro dude from the sound five, he was some ninja that used his own bones as weapons. And if his and Gaara's assumptions are correct, then this guy was fighting with a walking armory at his beck and call.

This was going to be one hell of a fight...

-

Katana Kaguya was quickly growing bored.

His entrance was a bit dramatic, and that humored him a bit as he regarded the multiple reactions of the lower beings below him. Some were on the defensive, others calm, a few were afraid, but most of the crowd was in shock of seeing such a huge force inside their walls without earlier warning. Having ninja skills were so useful...

What really surprised him was the other jinchuuriki he had found. He did not expect the one-tail to reappear, nor did he expect the six-tail or the five-tail. But what really saw was the prize that was the nine-tail's vessel...that one was that annoying Uchiha's objective. Hmm, he wondered if the copying cheat was around right now...no doubt waiting in the shadows to steal away his prizes when the opportunity showed itself.

An abhorring noise disturbed the Akatsuki member from his Uchiha-hating moment; it seems that the nine-tail had sent a clone force to delay him. How pitiful, the skeleton army will rip right through these pathetic substitutions.

Kaguya watched as the clones destroyed the skeletons, only to be ripped apart right after as Kaguya reanimated the fallen dead using his bloodline. He and Mononoke really were an undefeatable pair, Mononoke would create vast armies of undead skeletons. They moved, attacked, and reacted as quickly as any trained soldier, and they were a lot less vulnerable to many weapons; seeing as they were only weak to crushing techniques. Then again, he took away that hindrance, any bone or entire skeleton that was crushed, sliced, or destroyed, he would use his ninja bloodline in conjunction with his samurai teachings to reform any lost bone.

His sword, the one he never used in battle, was used as a medium to transfer his bloodline to the skeletons below, giving them the same regenerative powers that he had.

Katana then noticed that the clones were actually fulfilling their role as time buyers, they were holding back the skeleton army with some difficulty, but were holding them back nonetheless. Now, we can't have that can we?

The Kaguya shot out a volley of finger bullets, which dealt with the clones to an almost overkill level. The clones popped out of existence, leaving the clouds of smoke they are so famous for, even in death they try to help.

The smoke collected around the area, cutting the visibility down to zero. At first, nothing happened, until the sounds of bullets reached the ninja's ears. Gaara had summoned his Suna Shigure(sand drizzle) calling forth countless darts of sand to attack the Akatsuki member.

Katana leapt away from his position and reformed the sword in his hand into a lance, throwing it straight to the source of the sand bullets.

The attack halted, leaving Katana to wonder if he had already defeated his opponent. He quickly reconsidered when the sand from the previous attack surrounded him, catching his right shin was caught in a vice-grip of sand. The sand compressed, crushing flesh and bone alike until Katana was able to find the strength to set himself free.

The smoke from the earlier shadow clones had finally lifted, revealing the entire samurai village standing behind the members of Yoinokuchi, Mamoru, and Naruto's opponent.

"...So, you believe you can win..."

The shorter-tempered samurai of the village yelled insults to the ninja in black and red, all of them screamed that he shouldn't be so cocky without his right leg.

The Kaguya gave off a crooked laugh with the twisted smile that had appeared on his face. "Heh, heh, heh...You mean this simple wound? It is not enough to slow me down...in fact it makes me stronger...I no longer have to worry about the weak flesh..."

True to his word, the flesh on his shin fell apart, revealing nothing but the bone. The bones of his leg started to merge together, and they expanded until the bones looked like a sculpture of its former whole.

"Holy shit..." Muttered Haru, he had witnesses some weird things since he and his brother met Naruto and Gaara. But he had never witnessed such a sight as a blood limit before.

"Kekkai Genkai...A blood limit." Naruto cursed, this proved it. This man was from the same clan that the leader of the sound five was from. Naruto turned to look at Gaara. "Gaara, you've faced his kind before and won, so I'll leave this to you, Kanaye, you're with me. We're going to hold off the skeleton army with the samurai. Kano, Haru, you guys aren't ready for this kind of fight yet. I want you to go with the villagers and stay with them. Go under a henge so the samurai won't recognize you, they aren't ninja so they won't be able to tell who or what you are got it?"

Everybody nodded in confirmation.

"Good, Now lets kick some Akatsuki ass!"

Yoinokuchi cheered as they veered off to their respective objectives.

-

A voyeur was watching the scenes from afar, looking worriedly at the scenes before it. The voyeur was scared for the samurai, but that was not what put it to the state it was in. The voyeur wore tattered clothing, ripped and battered from endless searching. Some was so torn that hints of hidden armor beneath the robes were shown from noticeable locations on its person.

It was worried for its quarry, the reason it was there. The blond blur zipped through the ranks of the soldiers long dead. Groups of the living and his own counterpart aiding him in his quest to destroy all the raiding monsters, _he_ was the reason for its presence.

The voyeur gasped as it believed to see its quarry to be cornered, but was relieved to see it was only a clone. The true quarry reappeared in the air, apparently he had changed himself into a bird to fly away and gain some altitude.

The voyeur groaned, didn't its quarry know that the air was the most vulnerable to attack? He was virtually defenseless in the air.

That was what the voyeur believed, until it saw what happened next. Its quarry quickly grew four tails and each wrapped around him like a cocoon. They moved around a bit until they perfectly resembled a ball. The tails all twitched once and the ball of fur burst into flames, and plummeted downward like a rock into a lake.

The giant sphere of fire crashed into the Earth below and sent shockwaves of power through the ranks of the reanimated skeletons. But strangely enough, neither the fire nor the explosion affected the living samurai or the other members of its quarry's group. It didn't even faze the enemy Akatsuki member!

The questions of how this happened were put aside for another day as the voyeur continued to watch the epic battle. But the voyeur was rendered speechless as it witnessed what happened next.

-

_(This...is quite painful...)_

That was Gaara's main thought as he 'fought' with Katana.

Then again, one wouldn't really call it a fight. It was more of a beat-down, a struggling, drawn out beat-down, but a beat-down nonetheless.

This mans bones were dozens of times stronger than of the sound five leader Kiminaro. Though Gaara himself has done nothing but grow stronger and fonder of life, all of his progress has done nothing to prepare him for this Akatsuki member.

For example, where Kiminaro's bones had penetrated deeply into his sand, Katana's bones sliced and pierced it easily as it would against heated butter. Even his recently acquired iron sand techniques fared no better against the Akatsuki member's bones. Gaara's only hope would be to encase all of Katana into his sand, and then use his sand coffin to squish him like a grape. All he needed was a bit more time, all of his sand that had been scattered by his previous attacks was moving slowly to his enemy.

_(Just a few more seconds...) _

Katana sent a volley of finger bullets at Gaara's head, giving them enough force to penetrate the same steel Kisame used in his sword. The Kaguya gave a quick look around, was the fish-face and his little girly-boy here? They better help him if they are.

Gaara summoned a dual barrier of normal and iron sand to block the bullets, and was amazed to see it held fast. It was then that Gaara saw that in his haste to bring up his shield, he had accidentally mixed both of his sands into one element.

_(It would seem that my iron sand is the yin to the yang of my demon sand, separately they are strong...but together, they seem to be invincible...) _

Katana had noticed the fact as well. He had put enough force into that attack to pierce right through the bothersome barriers. It would seem that he had to resort to the five dances of his ancestors to defeat this shinobi. The Kaguya sighed in frustration. It seems he actually had to push some effort into this fight, how bothersome.

BOOM!

The explosion that had interrupted the duel made Katana oversee the other battle. His backup was now gone, so that means he would have to bring it up again. So this small annoyance has to be dealt with swiftly.

"Dance of the Clematis: Flower!"

The Kaguya's ultimate technique was a magnificent and horrifying sight to behold. The bones in Katana's right arm grew and twisted together in an amazing speed to encase Katana's entire arm. When it had finished forming, the bones had merged to look like a giant drill, but its purpose was not to spin and rip. Its sole use was to pierce right through anything it met.

"Lets see you try to defend against this One-tail..."

-

The fight was going better than expected, the skeletons were not as bad-ass as they looked and were falling like flies.

This tidbit of information boosted the morale of the samurai to an all-time high, with all of them cleaving and chopping away at the dead bodies like no tomorrow. Kanaye himself was smashing things left and right, crushing all the bones with his bare hands. And occasionally summoning some wooden armor from the plants he controlled. Naruto stopped fighting and retreated to observe Gaara's progress with the Akatsuki member. What he saw made him fight even faster and more brutal than before.

Gaara was in full retreat. It seems that his previous experience with Kiminaro was insignificant to the Akatsuki member. Gaara's sand was being cut like mere paper, and his iron sand fared no better. Any attacks made by Gaara were swiftly dodged or parried by the Akatsuki member.

Naruto jumped into the air to prepare one o the more powerful attacks he had 'learned' from being in his third eye. He grew his tails to their longest length and wrapped them around himself, forming himself into a ball-shape thing. He then released chakra into his tails to ignite them with his new patented fox-fire, turning himself into a giant ball of demonic flames.

After that he let gravity take over, he plummeted to the ground and crashed into the ranks of the enemy army. The attack had either blown them apart or incinerated them in the spreading flames.

Strangely, the fire that swept over the samurai and Kanaye did not react at all to them. The flames rolled over them harmlessly like a summer breeze. Naruto felt a twitch on his forehead as the increasingly familiar sensation of info transfer popped into his head. Fox fire only burned things that he has determined the enemy, and would leave everything else untouched, it was a technique known instinctually by all fox spirits. It was meant to be the perfect weapon when defending ones home.

Naruto shook his head to clear his head from the info to focus on the battle once more. The fires had calmed and disappeared, and the enemy army was reduced to only a few remaining groups of broken skeletons. The samurai cheered at the victory, Kanaye relaxed and lowered his arms, and Naruto smirked triumphantly, the fight was won.

Or so they thought.

When Naruto turned to aid Gaara, he witnessed his closest friend's defeat by the hands of the Akatsuki member. Gaara's famed supreme ultimate defense fell pathetically to the Kaguya's bones. Though Gaara himself had escaped the attack, it gave Katana enough time to fall back behind enemy lines. The Akatsuki member them fell into a meditative position, and began to glow an eerie tan aura.

Soon enough, the broken and splintered bones of the fallen skeleton army began to reattach and re-grow to their former state. At first they simply laid there, an unmoving collection of rotting skeletons. Then they began to move. An unholy red glow shone luminously in their empty eye sockets, its essence poured an ocean of killing intent into the already tense climate.

Katana Kaguya stood up from his meditative position and grew to blades out of his hands, the beginning move of the first dance of the Kaguya clan, the dance of the willows. He gave a smirk as he saw the horror-struck faces of his opponents below him.

"Now, let's try that again neh?"

-

The voyeur was extremely confused, it had seen with its own eyes what had happened, but it did not get how it happened. And if _it _did not see it, then no one would, after all, it saw everything with its eyes. The voyeur then hit itself on top of its head, it completely forgot to use it eyes! Pleasantly assured that it would uncover the secret, the voyeur used its eyes to find out what had just occurred.

What it saw made the voyeur gasp.

The skeletons were being manipulated from someone other than the bone user! There were small treads that connected each skeleton to a single main thread that lay on the ground.

The voyeur traced the thread to a ghostly tree that was a few dozen meters aware from the village. The tree was made of pure chakra, which would explain the level of detail she is able to see of it. Usually, one would just see a hollow version of the great plant, but the voyeur is able to see this tree as it would when not using its special eyes.

When the voyeur looked around the area where the tree was at, it noticed that the tree was planted in a graveyard. When the voyeur looked even deeper, it saw that all the graves were empty. Old and new alike, graves had been disturbed and their sleeping occupants disturbed. The voyeur saw that the entire graveyard was covered in the rotting remains of dead human flesh. Had the new enemy skinned th rotting corpses of the long-dead? The voyeur grabbed its stomach at the thought.

The voyeur looked around the tree, the places of the dead had no chakra for a tree like that to sustain itself, so that means someone or something is there feeding the tree the energy it needed to survive.

_(There!)_ Thought the voyeur.

It was a woman, a slender one. She was sitting right beside the tree, and was channeling her chakra from her body to the tree. The more chakra the lady channeled into the tree, the more threads of chakra grew out of the bark and dug into the graves of the nearby dead.

The voyeur watched as one thread flew into a very ornate crypt, and attaching itself into the corpse of one of the caskets inside. The tread landed on the corpse's shoulder, and dug into the rotting flesh of the dead person. The tip of the thread traveled to where the brain was, and started to pour bits of chakra into the brain.

Instantly, the once dead human woke from its once everlasting sleep and lifted the top of the casket. It climbed out of its resting place and walked lifelessly to the opening of his dark domain. With every step it took, a bit of flesh fell off its person. Small chunks of its body fell with a disgusting squish on the ancient stone floor of the aging crypt. Soon, the once-rotting flesh bag of a dead human had decomposed to a dirty, rotting skeleton. When the skeleton reached the entrance of its crypt, the skeleton simply pushed open the giant slab of stone with little effort; letting the cavern lantern illuminate its bleached complexion.

Finally free of its containment, the skeleton dragged itself so it would join a small brigade of other walking corpses, all of them with falling flesh. They stumbled out of the cemetery and into the city, following the other threads to the army fighting in the streets ahead.

_(They're...Zombies!)_

The voyeur was distracted when it hear d a scream, it seem that one of the living had fallen to the formerly dead. They sunk their bony hands into the man's skin and ripped his innards apart, handful by handful.

The man screamed, and was soon joined by others. The samurai were being overrun by sheer numbers, and were retreating to the inner parts of the city. Every time that they would destroy one skeleton, the Akatsuki member would fix the bones, and then what seems to be his partner brought back to life.

The voyeur noticed that more threads were growing from the tree in the cemetery, attaching themselves to the recently killed, making the army of the undead that much larger.

The voyeur cut off its vision when it could not bare the sight any longer, the voyeur wanted to close its eyes to never see such a sight ever again. It wanted to go back from whence it came and cry on its bed, it wanted to...

A yell caught the attention of the entire village.

Her quarry...was still fighting...he was making clones by the hundreds to ease the pressure on the samurai. Soon, thousands of copies of her quarry were suppressing the enemy, giving the samurai time to regroup and plan. The Akatsuki member, the one who mended the bones, charged at her quarry, with the powerful bone drill of his...if someone did not do something soon...then her quarry would...oh no!

"NARUTO-KUN!"

The voyeur raced against the clock as it ran to save her quarry. It would not let Naruto-kun die by the hands of a criminal. It would not let Akatsuki take him!

Katana was only a few meters away, and with the spear that he had ready, the voyeur only had precious few seconds to intercept him. Closing its eyes and remembering the words Naruto had told it, the voyeur jumped in between her quarry and the Akatsuki member, preparing to feel the experience of a lifetime.

Naruto turned at saw the spear coming at him, there was nothing he could do, no where he could go. If, when that thing will hit him, he doubted he would be able to get back up. Instinctually, shielding his face with his arms Naruto braced to the pain that will undoubtedly follow.

But fate had another idea in mind.

All Naruto heard was a strangled gasp followed shortly by a venomous curse and felt a strange gust of wind blowing past is body before he was knocked flat on his ass by what ever it was that happened.

Naruto stood up as quickly as he could and cracked open an eye to see just what the hell had happened.

There, in all of her collapsed glory was none other than…

"HINATA?!?!"

-

Rai stopped the tale there and finished off with an overly-dramatic pose that caused the children to complain. They already knew what happened, but they wanted to hear it again. It was strange for the stranger to see that behavior, once he had heard something once it was good enough or him. But these children and the people of this village wanted, needed to hear it as much as they needed to eat their food or breathe the air.

The stranger chuckled at the children's antics as he saw them desperately try to keep Rai in place so he could continue the tale. He saw that one was forming shadow clones to overpower the Rock Lee house member. But all good entertainment must come to an end, as the children's were carried, held, and in some cases, dragged away by their parents back home.

Rai let out a relived sigh as he asw his saviors (the parents of course) redeem him from the "Extremely Spontaneous Sparks of Youth". Rai turned to the savior and flicked his head at the direction of the house. Both went to the Inn, weary from the story time.

Meanwhile, a figure in regal white robes was disturbed by a group of ANBU-garbed shinobi.

-

**Hello? Is anybody there?...Echo...echo...echo...**

**No wait, seriously anybody who was waiting for the next chap, I've been kind of busy with the summer so I didn't write as much as I wanted. But it seems that I am free from anything binding right now so I'll probably update next week. Maybe. But I really donn't know. And sorry for the short chap, I had to cut it off right here since there was no where better to cut it off at. So yeah. Anyway, um...review por favor? I kind of need to know if anyone is still reading this thing**


	9. Chapter 8: Sayonara Akatsuki!

**_Release the Seal! 'The Power Of Human Sacrifice' Finally Understood!_**

I don't own Naruto, deal with it.

-

A figure in regal clothing sat in an equally regal chair. He smoked his pipe calmly in a slow rhythm, inhale, hold, exhale...inhale, hold, exhale. The clearly important man almost lazily opened his eyes to watch his village below. It was already well into the afternoon, and his home village was alive with activity. The village was the complete opposite during the many crises' that had happened to this place over the course of its history.

As the man pondered about it some more, he realized that no matter what day of the year it was, there was at least one family mourning the loss of a loved one. A father, a mother, a sister...a brother.

The person steeled his heart out of reflex. He could not afford to remember such things. As the village leader it was essential for him to show absolute strength, less he losses face, and in turn, influence over his village. As his eyes continued to wander his home, he noticed a growing cluster of people were surrounding two men at the park. Even from the great distance between himself and the group below he could make out one of the two men as a member from the Rock Clan. He was no Hyuuga, but you had to be blind to not notice the family traits; eyes, eyebrows, and all...

But the other man disturbed him. The regal figure did not recognize this newcomer. Nor was he able to weed out his intentions for his being here. The regal figure decided to take a closer look upon this person using the infamous all-seeing crystal ball.

Willing the amazing object to show him what he wanted, the figure's mood suddenly changed as the picture in the ball came into focus. The regal man smiled to himself and chuckled softly to a humor that only he knew, he watched with a careful if relaxed eye as he read the lips of the man who spoke of times long past...

-

Mamoru grunted in both annoyance and boredom from smashing up another skeleton, only to have it replaced with a dozen more. If these things didn't stop soon, it wouldn't matter how skilled he is, he will eventually fall from the sheer numbers that will overwhelm him.

He sadly noticed that it had already begun to happen to his fellow samurai, at first they were able to hold the monsters at bay, but after twenty minutes of fighting they began to tire. The sickening thing is that all who fell died the same way.

A single skeleton would get a hit in, often a strike to a vital area. The wounded samurai would then falter from the pain he would feel. The faltering would give a window large enough for the surrounding skeletons to swarm over the pour soul like starving locust. Their bony hands would tear off all clothing and armor until it is no longer deemed an obstacle. Then, the skeletons would dig their hands and jaws into the flesh of the poor fool and forcedly rip off all the flesh within him. Bony handful's of the fallen one's innards would be carelessly tossed aside like trash and blood would gush out like a fountain. The skull would be weeded out of it spinal chord and lower jaw savagely, letting all of its contents exposed to be pulled apart like wrapping paper. Once the body was stripped from everything that wasn't a bone, the skull would be placed back on top of the spinal chord and the blood-stain skeleton would rise from its gruesome death, adding another soldier to enemy ranks.

He was extremely grateful for the clones of the blond one, if a samurai fell the clones would swarm to him the same time the skeletons would. Fighting back the skeletons and carrying back the samurai behind the front for rest and treatment. Clones fell by the score sacrificing their existences for his own brethren. Soon, enough, there were only a few dozen clones left.

But even with the clones their force wasn't enough, the skeletons that were defeated waited for a moment before rising up from its second, and in some cases, third death. In fact, the skeletons seem to grow stronger every time they fall, or was it just because they themselves were getting weaker from exhaustion?

Either way, the situation only grew dimmer at each passing moment, and every despairing scream.

Mamoru's morale was plummeting quickly, visibly affecting his combat skills and costing him more minor injuries around his person. It wasn't until that the newcomer came did his hope rise once more.

The girl that flew like an arrow had seemingly descended from the heavens themselves to rescue the ninja he had skirmished against not too long ago. the strange spinning technique she had used had shattered the drill-like bone from the hideous outsider and had made him lose concentration.

The loss of focus had caused all the skeletons to temporarily still. The massed skeletons were hardly anything more than statues until the white-haired one regained his control again. But that show of weakness had rekindled the inferno of hope in Mamoru.

And he'll commit seppuku in a heartbeat before he ever let it die again.

With a mighty roar he pointed his sword towards the sky and performed his trademark technique that had gave him his reputation among his people.

"Secret Technique of the Divine: Earth's Spirit Summoning!"

Mamoru pointed his sword downward and stabbed the Earth with his blade. A curtain of stone and dirt enshrouded him, hiding himself from the eyes of everyone watching. The stones and dirt swirled around Mamoru, at times parting enough to see tiny glimpses of what was happening inside.

When the whirlwind calmed, Mamoru stepped out reborn.

Mamoru had gone under drastic changes. His hair had been bleached from its once calm brown to a pure holy white, his green eyes burned away to a pale gray, and all of the fat that had covered his person seemingly disappeared. But the most amazing thing was his change of attire.

His armor changed, evolved from its traditional soot-covered inferior was now a pristine silver armor. The armor was decorated with precious stones resembling the rare and elusive diamond, giving the armor an even more regal presentation. Black lines and curves gave indication to ancient beginnings, the images and patterns detailed seemingly unrelated to all modern art. The shoulder, forearm, kneecap, and shin guards were decorated similarly to the chest armor, but the diamond like stones were larger and much more intimidating. It seemed as if the stones were cut and shaped to act as blades for the suit, making the armor as equally suited for offensive measures as it was for its original defensive ones. A regular sized red cape flowed down the back of the armor, stopping just behind Mamoru's knees; a picture of an Elephant skull with the kanji for 'Guardian' on its forehead. Mamoru's helmet covered his head and face entirely, with flaps securing his tender neck from any possible stray projectiles. The helmet; rather, the traditional ornamental horns had been split into eight smaller ones sticking out in random, making his head slightly resemble an urchin. Finally, his face mask was molded to look like and elephant's mouth, tusks, trunk, and everything else.

In short, he looked like a Samurai of biblical proportions.

-

Naruto and Gaara were attempting to double team Kaguya, hoping that their combined efforts would be enough to topple the skeletal warrior. But all attempts were failing. After Hinata's angelic rescue of Naruto, a small window of opportunity showed itself. A window both Naruto and Gaara took great advantage of. The two ninja used any given moment to send volleys of sand bullets, blades, and airborne ransengan-wielding clones.

But Kaguya Katana's skill seem to surpass both Naruto and Gaara's by twice over and then some, for he had not been hit once. But then again, he neither had the opportunity to attack. To both of the jinchuuriki's relief, while they were not able to defeat Katana, they were at least able to hold him back. The two were so busy holding back the Kaguya that they had not noticed the effect they had on the rest of the battle. They had removed the onl foe capable of any significant long-ranged attacks, the relief from that specific enemy support allowed more samurai's to join the battle, easing the heavy stress the formerly small force of Samurai.

The tide of the battle seem to completely shift sides then. Allied numbers were increasing by the hundreds as samurai arrived trough rooftops, houses, streets, and even sewers. The visiting ninja were astounded to see samurai coming through the air as cable cars attached to the cavern ceiling dropped the warriors from above.

Seeing that the arriving samurai were becoming more and more of a problem, the Kaguya jumped into the air and curled into a ball, using his blood limit to cover his skin in a thick layer of bone. When gravity took its course and he felt himself falling, Katana spread himself outwards and destroyed his own armor, but the move was not without motive. Instantly the shards from the broken armor shot out a like rain of deadly shrapnel, tearing and piercing anything below.

Although Katana's face remained passive to the outside world, he was laughing grimly within at the inevitable demise of the pests below him. "Dance of the Camelia: Bone Needle Shards." This should eliminate most, if not all of the samurai defense force, and add more soldiers to his own army.

But once again, fate decided against Akatsuki, stretching its hand to shield the defenseless samurai, by way of a short blue-haired girl.

"SHUGOHAKKE ROKUJU YONSHO!"

All stood amazed that the young girl from before had reacted once again when the blonde ninja she was sent to find was placed in danger. During her jaw-dropping assault, the girl had single-handedly deflected the rain of bone shards and had either destroyed them, or sent them straight back to the unprepared Kaguya.

The akatsuki member was caught flat-footed, and had no choice but to fall back as several of his own bones pierced and sliced his own flesh.

Hinata herself had collapsed in exhaustion. She had given herself so little time to rest ever since she had left with her friends from Konoha, she was quite surprised at herself for being awake for so long. Any other time she would have most likely collapsed. But she knew the reason why she still fought on. Giving a longing glance at her reason for living, she returned her attention to the _bastard _that dared harm her Naruto. Naruto-kun was so hurt, and it was all that...that...F$#ER's fault! He will pay for making Naruto-kun hurt!

The glare Hinata threw the Kaguya caught the attention of Naruto. He had never seen Hinata without a smile, and it unnerved him that her scowl affected him so well. He wondered why he felt so threatened from that simple change of face, after all, everyone is titled to some anger right?

The lack of answer did not settle his feelings. Regardless of the fact that he had thought the question and no one could possibly answer his inquiry.

Deciding to wave off the Evil-Hinata glare, Naruto also vaguely noticed she wasn't wearing her regular over protective coat, instead she wearing a rather tight black, whatever it was she was wearing, that displayed her still developing body quite nicely. Personally, Naruto welcomed the change.

**OY GAKI! STOP THINKING WITH YOUR PATHETIC EXCUSE OF A MAN'S TOOL, AND GET ON WITH THE GOD-DAMN FIGHT ALREADY! **

Naruto stumbled for a bit from hearing the all-too familiar demon voice. Naruto realized he hadn't heard the demon for a while. He had almost started to miss that voice...but that was before he heard it again just now.

**WELL I LOVE YOU TOO, PITIFUL HUMAN! JUST WAIT UNTIL THE NEXT TIME I CALL UPON MY ONE OF YOU _GENEROUS_ FAVORS...YOU MAY BE IN FOR AN INTERESTING DAY...KU KU KU... **

Naruto groaned, but for two reasons. One was that he felt the annoying itch of the demonic eye the damn fox implanted in his fore-head and the second reason he groaned was that he had been slammed into a wall, via shield slam from a skeleton zombie.

**HEH, HEH, FOOLISH FLESH-RAT, YOU DESERVED THAT. **

_(Damn throw-rug, I'm starting to wonder how much I'll get if I skin you for a new coat.) _

**YOU WOULDN'T DO THAT GAKI, YOU NEED MY POWER TOO MUCH! KU, KU, KU... **

Naruto chose to ignore the fox instead of continuing to rant with it. He had more pressing matters to attend to, like Hinata. What was she doing here? Did her team get sent here? If so did they already send a message to Konoha of his whereabouts? These questions and more started to disturb Naruto more and more. He needed answers fast. And he isn't gong to get them acting like a target.

"Kanaye!"

Kanaye turned around to see who called him. And saw Naruto screaming something incoherent and pointing to something. He smashed a skeleton the was in his way and saw a girl cornered and beating back the annoying pests with amazing skill. For a moment, he thought he heard the beast inside him howl. But quickly remembered he had an Ox as a beast, they couldn't howl...right?

"Whaddaya want?! I'm kind of busy here!" Screamed Kanaye as he smashed the skull of yet another skeleton. Honestly, couldn't that guy make less of them with better skill? He had a harder time beating rugs than these sorry excuses for cannon fodder.

Naruto paid no attention to Kanaye's situation and pointed to Hinata "Go and help her idiot! If anything happens to her then this whole thing will go down the toilet faster than Gaara's sand crushing a walnut!"

Annoyed at being told at what to do, Kanaye felt no remorse as he shot a rose thorn into Naruto's ass, but he nevertheless jumped to help the girl. Besides how was he going to live with himself if he let such vibrant specimen of beauty get hurt?

Naruto cursed as the pain in his bottom grew, he made a mental note to introduce the Ox container to a Kanaye-sized charcoal grill. Naruto drooled slightly at the thought of char-broiled porterhouse steak.

Naruto was still in his self-induced state of stupidity when Katana decided to attack, with his patented oversized 'Flower' Bone. Naruto narrowly dodged the incoming attack as the bent backwards to an impossible degree. Sending chakra to his knees to stiffen the joints and allowing him to bend a perfect ninety degree angle. If one were to look, they would see a flawless reenactment of the matrix, ninja style.

"You and that damn elephant bone, can't you think of anything else? This is getting pretty old."

Katana regarded the boy for a moment, the information he had received from Deidara about this boy was vague at best. He knew he was strong, but did not know deep that strength reached, agility was hazy as well; but that last evasive maneuver was quite impressive, even by Akatsuki standards.

But one piece of information held true to the boy.

He was an idiot.

Naruto noticed his enemy's period of silence, and could not help but comment on it. "What's up with you? Decided that you give up? Are you that pathetic that- Whoa!"

Naruto was cut off from the sight that was before him. The Akatsuki member had grown all of his bones to the point where they stuck out of his skin, making him look like a deformed porcupine on steroids.

"This is a combination of tjree dances of my family, The Dance of the Pines, Clematis, and Seedling Ferns."

Naruto felt quite intimidated from the thing in front of him. Its spinal chord had fallen out of its lower back, now looking more like some deformed tail, it did not help that it had grown some dangerous looking spines at the tip to make them look even more menacing; the ribcage had exploded from his chest, protecting his upper body with bloody pikes of bones; His back had also erupted with blood with the force of the bones popping out, looking like a white and bloody version of the mountains in Earth Country; his remaining leg decomposed and reformed itself to be exactly like its twin, a solid sculpture of bone, making it that much harder to cripple him; his arms lets out a random number of bones in different locations, giving his arms the appearance of those western weapons called 'Morning Stars'; his chest and belly slowly grew plates and scales to create a bone-armor that seemed impossible to penetrate; lastly, his skull grew horns that twisted and turned to resemble a rams horns, while the flesh of his lower jaw disappeared under a mask of cartilage.

All in all, Katana Kaguya had turned himself into a bone monster of demonic standards.

Katana chuckled darkly as Naruto looked at him with wide eyes. "What is wrong little fox? Are you scared? How pitiful."

That comment slapped Naruto harder than any fist Haruno Sakura could ever hope to challenge, his old persona rose once again to rise towards the challenge.

"Hardly! I was thinking how nasty it's going to be after I wipe the floor with you! With a little luck, you might actually stand in public without making little kids scream in panic!"

"Fool"

Katana Kaguya shot off to Naruto, both arms poised to pierce right through him.

"My face already makes other scream in panic. And fear as well; Dance of the Willows!"

Naruto didn't have time to dodge as two more bones shot out of Katana's palms.

-

(Clang!)

Naruto stared as he witnessed Mamoru's sword pierce right through the bones from Katana's palms, like a needle through cloth, effectively holding them in place. He was also staring at Mamoru himself. He had changed into something...amazing.

**FEH, IT'S BLASPHEMY IS WHAT HE IS. **

Naruto jumped away from the two warriors and jumped into the sea of skeletons, ransengan in hand.

_(Damn, I hate running away from a fight, but I just have to know about Hinata...Hey fox, just what did you mean about blasphemy? He looks pretty damn holy to me.) _

Naruto took out a couple of skeletons with a ransengan and called upon a wind jutsu to summon a powerful gust of wind. Blowing back some skeletons trying to sneak up on him from behind.

**HE'S BLASPHEMY TO US DEMONS FLESH-RAT. WE DEMONS ARE BORN FROM DESTRUCTION, BRED THROUGH DEATH, LIVE BY CHAOS! THIS GUY...HE PREFERS NONSENSE LIKE PEACE, LIFE, AND, BLEH TRANQUILITY...**.

Kyuubi made a show of shuddering and pausing a moment before continuing.

**BEFORE A GREAT CATACLYSM, THE EIGHT-TAIL WAS SEEN LIKE SOME SORT OF GOD FROM A COW-WORSHIPPING PEOPLE. HE WAS KNOWN AS THE STRONGEST BIJU AT THE TIME, AND UNDER HIS RULE, HIS GOALS WERE NEAR HIS REACH. AFTER ALL THERE WAS NONE WHO OPPOSED HIM. **

Naruto summoned a clone and used it make an Oodama ransengan, slamming it to a cluster of skeletons blowing them away, and the other few dozen skeletons behind them.

_(Wait, are you telling me that the eight-tale is more powerful than even you?) _

The Kyuubi gave a roar at the accusation before snarling his answer. **OF COURSE NOT IDIOT! DIDN'T YOU HEAR A WORD I SAID? HE WAS THE STRONGEST _AT THE TIME_. THAT WAS BEFORE I CAME AROUND AND _RELIEVED_ HIM OF HIS STATION. **

Naruto kept silent for a moment. _(If you won a fight against him, why is he still alive?)_

**A STORY FOR ANOTHER DAY BRAT, RIGHT NOW YOU HAVE A BONE BASTARD TO KILL. **

Naruto used a large area Earth jutsu to re-bury the skeletons he had incapacitated, and a few other ones that had the unfortunate luck of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

"First Hinata, then I'll go help Mamoru."

Naruto dashed straight towards Mamoru and Gaara, the later arriving to aid the former as the skeletons were focusing their forces on those two.

"Jinchuuriki Technique: Demon Roar!"

Naruto let out an ear-piercing roar, causing a gale of wind to pick up and blow away the oppressing skeletons. Gaara had raised a thicker than normal version of his sand shield to protect himself and the others from Naruto's loud scream.

When Gaara let his shield down again, he was not surprised to see Naruto charging at them at his fastest speed. What he did not expect however, was Naruto pushing himself and Kanaye out of the way, quite painfully might he add, to talk to the white-eyed girl behind them.

He also didn't expect for Naruto to panic, blabbering nonsense a thousand words a minute looking at the girl with an almost fearful expression. Naruto was loosing it fast, and Gaara prayed that his friend would keep himself from loosing his mind in his temporary state of madness.

The girl he noticed was not speaking at all, though Gaara was perplexed as to why. She may have been tired from exerting two extremely powerful techniques to save Naruto, but she would have at least the energy to speak from the minimal amount of rest he and Kanaye had provided her. But she seemed to be so fascinated by Naruto that she had seemingly forgot to speak Finally after what had seemed forever, the girl glomped Naruto and started sobbing into his chest.

Not knowing what else to do, Naruto stayed in place and rubbed the girls back. Saying things such as 'It's okay' and 'Don't worry'.

Hinata calmed down relatively quickly and looked up to Naruto's eyes. For her, time froze. She was so close...all she had to do was lean a little and her lips would touch his...

Feeling brave, she started to lean an inch, and her breath began to shorten. Naruto stared at her curiously, oblivious to her intentions.

Another inch, the only thing she saw was her Naruto-kun's face, and it made all of the blood in her body to rush to her face. Naruto panicked, was Hinata sick? Her face had gone all red from fever...she could literally feel the heat from her upon his face.

At the last bit of space, she could feel his breath, _(It smells like ramen...)_ she thought sleepily as she closed her eyes. Naruto could also smell and feel her breath, and was going under full-panic mode. What in the world was the girl doing?! Had she gone delusional?!

But before her lips could meet his, a scream of pure undiluted pain reached their ears and ruined the mood.

-

The monster that was Katana jumped away, letting go of the bones he had intended to use to _immobilize_ the blond vessel. But this new challenge had piqued his interest, was this the vessel they were originally sent to retrieve? He certainly looked the part, but could he follow up his act? Katana decided to give him a test.

The Kaguya shot out a single volley of finger bullets, aiming to pierce straight through the heart. Mamoru did nothing, he stood completely still in his stance, and did not so much as flinch when the bone projectiles bounced harmlessly off his armor.

"Interesting..." Katana murmured. "The bones of a Kaguya are so condensed that they are stronger than reinforced steel, but your armor seems to be made of something even stronger than that. Would you happen to tell me what kind of metal your exquisite armor is made of?"

Mamoru stood silently, staring intently at Katana, seemingly ignorant of all the chaos surrounding them.

"It seems that the biju you house is wise, it does not allow you boast. It keeps your secrets hidden and gives you the ability to focus to an unparallel level. That focus however has a serious flaw, because you only pay attention to me, you don't notice the rest of your surroundings!"

As soon as the final word left Katana's mouth a squad of skeletons jumped at Mamoru to attack his exposed back, they were merely distractions however, as Katana summoned another set of bones from his palms and charged from Mamoru's front.

Mamoru, was still like a statue. When the skeletons were striking the armor on his back in futility, not even causing sparks or scratches, he waited patiently. Mamoru took the deep breaths that were taught to him when focusing on finding ones center, once he had achieved that, all he needed to do was stay there, and he would be invincible.

A single deep breath, he was in a void, with black nothingness all around him. It was just him, his sword, and his armor. Outside, Katana closed in on Mamoru by ten feet, leaving another fifteen.

Another deep breath, and Mamoru finds himself in the company of an enormous beast. A giant Elephant with eight menacing tusks, four on each side of his trunk. What seemed like a lost language was etched on its ivory mandibles, the symbols creating some ancient pattern mystifying all those who saw it. It looked down on him with its tired brown eyes, they had a gaze of infinite wisdom and everlasting patience. Outside once more, Katana had cleared another ten feet, the skeletons behind Mamoru still trying to break through the seemingly impenetrable armor.

Another breath, Mamoru and the great beast walked towards each other. They regarded each other for a moment, both knowing what the other thought, never passing the winds of speech to invade the silent sanctum. Still in their sound-less state of being, the two beings reached out for each other, causing a blinding flash of light when they touched.

Katana had finally reached Mamoru moments before, but had utterly failed to penetrate the unyielding armor that the vessel wore. The bone swords that had erupted from his palms were so ineffective that Katana might as well be stabbing a mountain with toothpicks. Trying to cleave through with sharpened bones fared no better if he used butter knives.

Screaming in absolute frustration and anger, the Kaguya was about to pierce out Mamoru's eyes and slam a sword down his throat.

That is, until Mamoru's arm reached up and grabbed his neck.

**"Fool" **

Mamoru slammed Katana on the ground face first, and then walked behind him. He placed his foot on the Akatsuki member's ass and grabbed his tail.

**"You won't be needing this, they don't suit humans at all." **

With a mighty yank, Mamoru forcedly pulled out the 'tail' Katana had created from his spinal cord. Blood poured out of the newly created ass hole Mamoru had created. The pelvic bone and the lower lumbar vertebrae were clearly visible, if only for a moment. As the skin healed, the bones were hidden once more and Katana staggered and fell away.

The scream of pain Katana let out from losing his tail was heard throughout the village.

Katana was about to lunge towards Mamoru, intending to skinning him from his armor and flesh. But a flash of pain went through Katana, and he just simply fell, clutching his heart. Blood shot out of his mouth, and the statuesque legs he had created began to crumble, eroding away as if centuries passed in mere seconds.

The Kaguya pulled out a scroll from under his own skin and opened it up, he cough up blood on it and performed the seal necessary for a summoning. A small explosion of smoke later, and a set of vials were laid in front of him, all filled with a murky orange liquid. Katana picked up a random vile and drank it down. Instantly he stopped coughing, the leg statues reformed perfectly and his body stopped shuddering from pain almost immediately.

"You will pay for that jailer..."

Mamoru smirked. **"You mean jail-ee"**

Katana's eyes widened into dinner plates, was he hearing who he thinks he's hearing?

**"From your expression I think you finally realized just who you are talking to. I am the Eight-Tusked Elephant Spirit, Mamoru." **

Katana snorted. "Taking names from humans demon?"

The demon inside Mamoru willed the body to grin. **"Quite the opposite really, they had given him my name. Along with the vessel before him, and the one before him, etcetera, etcetera..."**

The puppet Mamoru acted lazily, carelessly closing his eyes as he spoke and holding his sword limply in his hand. "**What I want to know is why do you want us evil-one? It cannot be simply to gain power or knowledge. With the combined efforts of yourself and your 'companions' so to speak, your organization have enough of both to rule the world. So, what are your true intentions?"**

Katana laughed, hard. "Do you honestly think that I will tell you?! Just by simple saying please and I would give you all of our information?! Fool! And they call you the wisest of the nine!" Though he put up a strong facade, Katana could only wonder how the beast came to know of Akatsuki...he had not said anything about that yet, and it was doubtful id the samurai had a spy network to learn about them.

It was the demon's turn to chuckle. **"Oh I don't expect anything from you child. I may no longer be the strongest of the tailed-beast, nor the wisest, that title goes to the four-tail. But what I am, human, is the most knowledgeable...nothing goes unheard from the Earth you walk on. But somehow, your little group has silenced the Earth around you, now how is that possible?"**

Mamoru waved a hand behind him, causing the ground to rise like a wave and knock away the skeletons attacking from behind. Another platoon soon replaced the first, charging with silent screams. One would see Mamoru suddenly grip his sword tightly, before its original limp grasp returned to its hilt.

The skeletons laying behind him were little more than puzzle pieces.

**"You still try to attack me mortal? Look around you Katana...the combined efforts of the samurai of this village and the traveling shinobi have stopped your army. You yourself are dying from within, and I have unleashed my strongest form of power, you cannot win." **

"Heh, heh, heh, HA, HA, HA! Me? Defeated? Ha! I am the epitome of the word _warrior_! Unlike ninja, I have learned more techniques outside of being a shinobi, giving me more tricks to use and many more ways to kill. I am unbound from the shackles of the idea of honor that samurai burden themselves with! I am an unblemished diamond of strength, and soon...once the idea of honor is destroyed...everyone else will be too. The world would be rebuilt the way Akatsuki see fit...only the strong will survive, and only the strong will rule. No one will have to burden themselves ever again...and lose everything!"

Katana surprised everyone by burrowing underground instead of attacking. But Mamoru shook his head in exasperation...what kind of fool would use and Earth element technique against an Earth Guardian? It would be like throwing a cup of water into the ocean to take away its salt...utterly pointless.

But the sleep-less one thought differently, He had summoned an ocean of sand and spread it as far as it could go, and then made platforms and ordered everyone to get on them if they wanted to live. His companions listened intently and hoped upon immediately, the girl soon followed when the loud yellow-haired one did. Few of the samurai paid attention, either not trusting the boy or simply ignoring him in favor of their superior's orders. Mamoru himself stepped upon the platform closest to him. He suddenly found himself lifted a hundred feet in the air, the ninja next to him.

"Idiots!" Spat the red-haired one. "I told them! If they don't hurry up they'll die!"

Naruto was on the verge of panic as well, he had heard of what was going to happen from Lee, if the attack was anything like Lee said it was..."Gaara, can't you just wrap the sand around them and force the up!?"

"I can't..." Gaara replied defeatedly, "It's taking up too much concentration to make the platforms! I still don't have enough strength to control all of the sand perfectly!"

Something seethed within Mamoru, the human was begging to know what the red-haired one meant and pleaded the great beast to ask him. The Elephant was curious as well and conceded.

**"Red-haired one...what do you mean by that?" **

The second member of Yoinokuchi cast a casual glance towards the beast in humans clothing, and stared for a moment, as if sizing him up. "Like I said Mamoru-san, they will all die." At Mamoru's piercing glare Gaara decided to elaborate.

"The Kaguya have a technique called the _Dance of the Seedling Ferns_. This technique allows them to create a forest of bone spires from their own bodies. Depending on their skill, the forest can spread for miles. My sand can save them, but only if they get on the clouds of sand I have made. But because of the duel with the other samurai I am not strong enough to control the sand enough to carry them against their will."

Mamoru's eyes widened greatly as he realized the implications, and quickly redirected his attention back to the battle field when he heard a loud rumbling. Instead of seeing his fellow Samurai fighting valiantly, he saw the last thing he wanted to see...

A graveyard.

The spires that had shot out from the floor were giant to say the least, towers of bone sprang out like angry weeds, cleaving through building like paper and spearing the samurai below like gutted fish.

The numbers of bones increased by the minute, reaching farther and farther by the minute, soon the bones had destroyed more than half of the entire village. The only consolation Mamoru had was the common villagers had left the town much earlier, he saw three giant groups separated from social class leaving their village from the main gates to the north.

The gates were large and imposing, and were taking time to open, too much time. Very few samurai guards must be with them, the rest are either fighting or...

Mamoru stopped thinking at that moment, these humans were direct descendants of the people who had worshipped him like a god. To put it simply, they were like his children, and he was failing his duty as their guardian to protect them.

**"Set me down red-haired one." **Mamoru's voice was stoic like a warrior's voice should be, His statement was not a request, his tone displayed as such. But one would have to deaf to not hear the anger lining in those words.

Gaara was such a person. "Not yet Mamoru-san, Ka-"

**"I SAID SET ME DOWN!" **

Gaara was taken back from Mamoru's reaction, the Samurai seeing this, explained his action. **"These people...my people, are ones I care about. It is my duty to protect them until my dying breath, whether it be a minor nuisance, or a major attack. My home has suffered losses, and I seek retribution."**

Naruto scoffed. "To seek vengeance is a vice of a traitor, the desire of revenge is never truly sated, and will parch your thirst for blood until you destroy the very things you care about." Naruto's eyes dimmed at his own statement, images of Sasuke and Orochimaru invading his mind.

"But one becomes strongest when you have something to protect, it is then and only then that a warriors true potential is met and his strength is unleashed." Kanaye had spoken his part, for he knew it the best, he had protected Haru for nearly his entire life. Past memories of Haru brought out a smile on Kanaye's face.

"But the greatest virtue, the one that separates the weak from the strong, is the ability to ask help. To stand alone is a fool's choice, to be under self-imposed exile will slay your mind and soul alike. But if you have friends and family, even the greatest of enemies will fall under your heel." Gaara was the one who spoke this time. It was his fort after all, he had allowed himself to detach from the world around him, and lost his mind to the bloodlust of Shukaku. He had only recovered his sanity when he found out the true meaning of existence after a beating from Naruto.

Mamoru was looking more wary by the minute, confused at why he was getting all these philosophies of life from the three before him. It was only until Naruto spoke again that he finally calmed. "That is why we are here, to offer you our help, our friendship. Alone Mamoru, you will undoubtedly fall to the Akatsuki cult. We seek to prevent that, we are Yoinokuchi, and our sole purpose is to stop Akatsuki by any means possible."

Mamoru stared at the group of travelers with a critical eye, not fully trusting them, but not completely disregarding them either. He seemed at a loss, he did know why Akatsuki was after him, and had kept strict tabs on them and little else. He had put so much effort to his information, that he completely overlooked the other vessels and demons they were after. After all this time, he had friends to call upon for help.

But something else also bothered him, his Earth is able to see and hear all. So how had the Kaguya arrived unannounced? Could it be possible that there were any other Akatsuki members around? How did they sneak past him?

Mamoru decided to answer the questions later and find out if his Earth still knew all. **"Red-haired one, take me down now, the technique has finished and I need to feel the Earth. I have just realized something very disturbing"**

Gaara nodded and brought them down quickly, but settling far away from the bones. He could not risk landing near the imposing spires, as Kaguya can travel through them as stone ninja do through rock.

"By the way Mamoru-san, my name is Gaara."

Mamoru nodded once to Gaara but said nothing. When the group landed Mamoru laid his hand on the Earth, hearing the whispers and secrets the Land had to tell. Imagine his surprise when he heard no sound, no whispers, not nothing. Its as if someone had controlled the Earth to say nothing to him.

**"Hmm..." **

"What is wrong Mamoru-san?" Gaara asked, he had a guess what Mamoru was doing, as his third eye is not unlike what Mamoru is attempting to do.

**"The Earth, it is not speaking to me. This sign does not bode well for my village, only the most powerful of warriors can block out the ears and mouth of the great Earth. But I do not understand how this is happening, only someone who steals the life from the earth itself can silence it. And those techniques have been lost in time, I made sure of it." **

Hinata suddenly remembered the odd person she saw at the graveyard of the village, she was sitting next to a ghostly tree. The tree was giving life to the undead soldiers and stripped them of their flesh, maybe that what Mamoru was talking about.

"Excuse me Mamoru-sama, But I think I know what you are talking about..."

-

The figure beside the ghostly tree had been sitting in the same spot for a long time, waiting for her partner/master to return with the eight-tail. She had already searched the graves for the one she sought, but had found no trace of her personal agenda.

She was very bored, and very annoyed that her partner had not shown up. Even if he had to take on the entire village of samurai, she had supplied more that enough dead for him. Dead, it was ironic for her to say such a word, considering the circumstances...

The lady was interrupted from her brooding by the very person she was angered by. Katana had returned, very bruised and bloody. It seems the samurai, or at least the jinchuuriki, were more durable than they originally thought.

"We must leave now."

The words surprised her, and she spitefully sneered at the man in front of her. "Don't tell me the last of the Kaguya Clan cannot handle a single jinchuuriki. Oh how far the great clan has fallen!"

Katana coughed out some blood. "Pitiful woman, there is no _one_ jinchuuriki, there's four!" Of course, only one was needed to defeat him, but he was not going to admit that. "The jinchuuriki have the ability to merge with the demon inside them, tell me woman, do you want to fight four demon-possessed vessels meant for destruction?

The woman was startled by the revelation. "What? How can that be? Zetsu said there was only one jinchurikiin this village! How in the hell can there be four?" This can be a potential threat, one jinchuuriki they can handle easily, two with some effort, but she doubts any pair of Akatsuki members can take four vessels at one time. Not even if Itachi and the leader paired up... They had to get this info to the others, if the vessels have begun to join forces, they would have to be ready.

"Do I look like I know? We must leave before they find us, drop your playthings and let us leave."

The lady was greatly angered by the lack of respect the man was giving her, but obeyed nonetheless. This was not the time for petty squabbles. They had to get this information to the other Akatsuki.

She dispersed her Underworld Orchid jutsu that gave all of the undead skeletons life, snuffing out the souls from this plane of existence and throwing them back to the other world. The lady stood up to join up with Katana, who had just finished drinking another of his strange remedies.

"Hey! Where do you think you guys are going?!"

The lady and Katana turned to see who had yelled, and were both surprised and frightened from the sight before them. All four jinchuuriki were standing in front of them in a partial demon state.

The one in red hair was covered in normal and iron sand. Both of his arms and his chest had the body of the one tail made of iron sand, his face was covered in a mask that gave him the face of Shukaku, one eye was blue while the other was a haunting yellow. A tail of Shukaku's blooded sand swayed maniacally behind him.

Mamoru was still in his previous state, with outstanding armor and whitened hair and eyes. His Katana that was once sheathed was being proudly displayed on Mamoru's shoulders. It was made of a combination of both the crystal and the odd impenetrable metal his armor made of. The hilt was shaped like an elephants' trunk, and the blade a tusk. The actual body and blade of the katana was made of the metal he wore, but it was with ancient symbols made of the equally mystifying crystal lined at the flat of the sword.

Kanaye's skin had turned into a darker brown color, similar to that of aged wood. The night-colored horns that were his sign of the demon he held had sprouted from the sides of his head, his forearms, and from his shoulders. His entire body was enshrouded with a green aura of chakra. His face elongated until it resembled a bull's and his muscles, if even possible, grew larger.

But the blond, he terrified them the most, he was not the same when Kaguya fought him. The inhibitions were gone, his killing intent washed over them like a giant wave in harbor. No malice was spared when he stared into them; his very essence wilted any plants nearby, causing the home of the dead to become even bleaker. The nails on his hands and feet lengthened and sharpened until they more like daggers than anything else, his fangs grew in a similar, if not more terrifying fashion. There was no visible skin on his body, covered from head to toe in blood-red aura of chakra. But his eyes were by far the most other-wordly about him. Every negative word in every known language could not begin to describe those eyes.

The eyes were filled with insanity, malice, spite, belligerence, but hatred most of all. Hatred for them…the Akatsuki.

Mamoru was the first to speak.** "You believe that you are powerful, double teaming jinchuuriki when they are alone, and picking on the weak. You will pay for your transgressions towards my home, I will see to that." **

Gaara was the nest to speak**. "Lets see how you fare when the odds are against you, when you are the ones outnumbered."** He was still pissed that his fellow shinobi were killed when Akatsuki kidnapped him, at least they failed in the end. But Gaara was not sure if being stuck with Shukaku was a good or bad thing

**"Feel's strange doesn't it bastards? To know that you will die hear today, trying to do something you thought was so damn easy, guess what shit-heads? It isn't." **That was naturally Kanaye, who had a sadistic grin on his face when he was done, eager to get the fight started with already.

Naruto was finally the last to speak. **"A power of a biju should never be underestimated, even if it is contained. We will show what the true strength of a jinchuuriki is. Your own power won't even hold a candle to us."**

With a demonic roar, the four vessels jumped towards the Akatsuki members, who met them half-way.

-

"Are you Kano-san and Haru-san?"

The two said boys turned around to meet the girl who had asked about them. She was of medium height, and had long blue-purple hair. Her eyes were an electric blue like their Naruto-niisan, but instead of energy and brashness, she had a shy and timid air around her.

"Yes we are miss-?"

"My name is Hinata, and I am a friend of Naruto-kun. He sent me here to stay with you until he has dealt with the Akatsuki."

Kano and Haru eyed her warily, not fully trusting the seemingly innocent girl. Anybody could be an enemy, the other taught them that. So to test the validity of her statement, they asked her a question. "Why does the night fall?" said both simultaneously.

Hinata smiled, never missing a beat. "The night falls to crush the red dawn."

-

The fight had been raging on for what seemed like eternity. Gaara and Naruto had teamed up to fight the new female Akatsuki member, while Mamoru and Kanaye fought the Kaguya.

Katana was being severely overwhelmed, the host of the eight-tail, or the actual eight-tail itself, was more than a match for the master of bones. But coupled with a master at hand-to-hand combat that happened to be the container of the six-tail's, Katana was trying his absolute best just to keep breathing.

The lady Akatsuki member was faring much better than her failing counterpart. She was using a mix of Earth and wind jutsu's to counteract Naruto's fox fire jutsu and Gaara's sand respectively.

Naruto then turned the tables on the lady by creating several clones and having them rush at his target. One clone had curled itself into a ball and had used the underworld spines technique Naruto learned from Jiraiya, and was flung towards the lady Akatsuki member by Gaara's sand.

The lady was too busy dealing with a clone that had appeared from under the ground behind her to notice the incoming attack. She only realized the danger she was in when the giant ball of spines covered her own shadow.

She tried to jump away but found herself stuck to the floor by a mix of iron and demon sand. The lady could do nothing but put her arms up in a feeble defense when the ball of spines crashed into her.

"Mononoke-oomph!" Katana had barely said her name when Kanaye had slammed his fist into Katana's sternum. Katana flew into several ancient graves, destroying all of them in the process.

Gaara and Naruto kept an eye where the ball of spines laid, this woman was not an Akatsuki member for nothing, she was undoubtedly alive, and most likely unharmed.

Suddenly, a spear-like object exploded out of the ball, causing it to disappear in a small explosion of smoke. The lady, now known as Mononoke, stepped out of small crater made from the attack, having several puncture wounds decorating her body. The strange spear shooting right out of chest lessened and she stood up.

Naruto and Gaara were about to attack again when Mononoke started speaking. "I did not recognize it at first, but as we fought I have come to realize that chakra. It is from the nine-tailed fox is it not?"

Naruto said nothing but nodded nonetheless.

"My life was ruined by that beast. I lost my home, my husband, and my new-born son to that monster. You have no idea what joy I am feeling now, to finally have the chance to destroy that thing in you. You have sealed your own fate as I will fight with no limits!"

Mononoke charged, the spears shooting out of every point of her body, they were all a deep crimson color. Far from her, Katana had also jumped up from his own crater, once again looking like a demon made of bone and cartilage. A crazed expression of desperation in his eyes.

_Cut my life into pieces _

_This is my last resort _

_Suffocation _

_No breathing _

_Don't give a fuck if I cut my arm bleeding _

The battle started once again with renewed fervor, with random projectiles and powerful ninja techniques flying out of control.

_This is my last resort _

Mamoru was attacking Katana head-on, using his skill wit his sword and threw the occasional Earth class samurai technique at him. Kanaye had summoned thorns to appear on his hands and willed them to grow until they matched Naruto's claws in size. He attacked Katana by his rear flank, intending to hold him down and leave him open for Mamoru to finish off.

Gaara and Naruto were fighting offensively and defensively respectively. Naruto was being pushed back by the medium to long ranged attacks of the now crazed woman of Akatsuki. Gaara, attempting to aid his friend, sent numerous sand leopards, shuriken, and shields to intercept the attacks, only to have them dissipate when the attacks went through them.

_Cut my life into pieces _

_I've reached my last resort _

_Suffocation _

_No breathing _

_Don't give a fuck if I cut my arm bleeding _

_Do you even care if I die bleeding _

_Would it be wrong? _

_Would it be right? _

_If I took my life tonight _

_Chances are that I might _

_Mutilation outta sight _

_And I'm contemplating suicide _

Katana was fighting back against his foes powerfully, but recklessly as well. All of his years taught in discipline and patience ebbed away as he fought with greater panic and increasing sense of helplessness. He was fighting with what little strength he had to hold back the monsters at bay. His soul recognizing he is at his end, but his mind unwilling to accept it.

Mononoke had lost all sanity as she targeted Naruto with increasing vigor. All pain that she had felt from the puncture wounds seemed to disappear at the prospect of killing the young boy. So focused was she at killing the blond that she did not even register the fact that the red-haired boy had pierced right through her with a tentacle of sand. Mononoke realized that she would most likely die in the process, but she did not care as long as the fox died. That is why she only grunted in annoyance when Gaara shielded Naruto in his ultimate defense, she just simply saw it as an obstacle.

_Cause I'm losing my sight _

_Losing my mind _

_Wish somebody would tell me I'm fine _

_Losing my sight _

_Losing my mind _

_Wish somebody would tell me I'm fine _

While outside in the real world the jinchuuriki might have the upper hand, inside they were drastically loosing. Their bodies have begun ripping themselves apart, with Mamoru being the only one safe seeing that his armor was what held his biju's power and not himself. Naruto and Gaara were loosing the battle of the minds and were soon desiring to kill anything that breathed, while Kanaye own mentality was quickly returning to a more primal state of mind. Preferring to claim the land around him as his own and search for a mate to sire children.

Kanaye was able to grab hold of Katana's tail and hold him down long enough for Mamoru to land a decent blow on him. Katana's bone armor flaked away like snow and his bone swords slipped out of his hands. Noticing his vulnerability, Kanaye pulled his tail out of the bottom of his back. Any scream Katana was about to let out was cut off as Mamoru sliced the Akatsuki member's head off, and split it in half when it flew in the air, twice.

_I never realized I was spread too thin _

_To live was too late _

_And I was empty within hungry _

_Feeding on chaos _

_And living in sin _

_Downward spiral where do I begin? _

_It all started when I lost my mother _

_No love for myself _

_And no love for another _

_Searching to find a love up on a higher level _

_Finding nothing but questions and devils _

Mononoke noticed that her partner had died only briefly, before disregarding it completely. She had other problems to worry about, the compacted fortress of sand was too powerful for her to destroy, and she was sensing and incredible gathering of chakra inside the fortress. She summoned her most powerful jutsu to try to destroy the shield, and hopefully the fox inside it.

_Cause I'm losing my sight _

_Losing my mind _

_Wish somebody would tell me in fine _

_Losing my sight _

_Losing my mind _

_Wish somebody would tell me I'm fine _

_Nothing's alright _

_Nothing is fine _

_I'm running and I'm crying _

_I'm crying _

_I'm crying _

_I'm crying _

_I'm crying _

Mononoke was concentrating her chakra around her body into such a concentrated and erratic state that she soon began degrading as it started to form. The name of the technique was unknown, and she did not bother to give it a name. The technique was meant to destroy both opponents in a fight. The user would pour every ounce of energy in his or her body to literally give life to the technique. Once one felt their own heartbeat in the attack, they knew that the technique was completed, the chakra around their body would separate from the flesh and bone, leaving it lifeless on the floor, but the result was a being made of pure chakra, unable to be touched, unable to be killed. Mononoke began crying from a side-affect o the technique, all the emotions placed into the technique, whether few or many, caused the mind and body to cry.

_I can't go on living this way _

The only thing that could be considered a drawback was that there were only two choices on what to do when in this state. One was to 'posses' a person and use the chakra to rip out the person cell by cell, letting them fall apart like a broken jigsaw puzzle. The second was to explode, creating enough force in the explosion to bring down even the largest of cities in the world to mere rubble.

(Ba-Bump)

_Cut my life into pieces _

_This is my last resort _

_Suffocation _

_No breathing _

_Don't give a fuck if I cut my arm bleeding _

_Would it be wrong? _

_Would it be right? _

_If I took my life tonight _

_Chances are that I might _

_Mutilation outta sight _

_And I'm contemplating suicide _

(Ba-Bump)

Mononoke stepped away from her flesh and blood body, leaving it to fall on the floor motionlessly. She was now a walking spirit solely made of chakra, she was now undefeatable. Many would call her insane, and many more would call her a hero for what she was about to do, but it did not matter to her, she was going to do what she wanted to do for the longest time. To kill the monster that killed her and her family.

(Ba-Bump)

At the same moment, Gaara had brought down his Shield of Shukaku and revealed the beast hiding inside.

(Ba-Bump)

_Cause I'm losing my sight _

_Losing my mind _

_Wish somebody would tell me I'm fine _

_Losing my sight _

_Losing my mind _

_Wish somebody would tell me I'm fine _

_Nothing's alright _

_Nothing is fine _

_I'm running and I'm crying _

(Ba-Bump)

The fox had positioned all nine of its tails towards its mouth, creating an extremely dense sphere of chakra. Almost on par with the very amount she was generating, this was not good, she does not know what would happen if an equal amount of chakra would collide with her, it could be...

(Ba-...Bump)

The technique was dieing, chakra cannot survive long with out a body to keep it from escaping. Mononoke charged without thinking of the consequences of her actions, she was not going to die anyway, HE would not allow her to. Not until she finished her end of the bargain.

(Ba-...-Bump)

_I can't go on living this way _

_Can't go on _

_Living this way _

_Nothing's alright _

Naruto swallowed the ball with his mouth and instantly blew up like a balloon. He then released the mounting pressure in his mouth to let out a destructive force that destroyed the entire mountain side he was facing.

The chakra spirit of Mononoke was no where to be found, her body, along with that of Katana and countless graves, were destroyed from the power of the attack.

With the threat gone, all four Jinchuuriki collapsed from exhaustion, falling into the blissful oblivion that was unconsciousness.

-

A figure entered the giant gaping hole coming from the mountain. He was watching not that far away from another mountain enjoying the battle immensely, and was rather surprised how far his chess pieces have developed their powers in such a short time.

No matter, that works in his favor anyway. He would just have to work a little faster, the figure sighed. He hated working faster than his usual pace. It was too demanding.

The figure walked up to the sole blond of the fallen four. Took out a scroll from under his robes and placed it in his hand, and put a signature seal on it. Only a jinchuuriki as advanced as this one would be able to open the scroll. Any other would receive a 'shocking' surprise.

The figure laughed at his own pitiful joke, but stopped when he realized he was alone and no one was laughing with him. Maybe he should visit these few soon. This group was proving to be a promising set of chess pieces. If they continued to progress like this, maybe they would prove to be more important than common pawns.

Ah well, time will tell.

-

The man in white robes was so enraptured by the captivating story that he did not immediately register the ANBU squad entering his room. They had all removed their masks in front of their leader, as it was a standard procedure. Their faces were set in stone but the important man could see a trace of discomfort in their expressions.

"Hokage-sama, we have a problem.."

He held an unfamiliar scroll in his hands.

-

**Now how do I say this without you guys killing me? Hmm... I guess there isn't any way. Oh well I lived a good life. For people that actually care why I was so late to update, my reason is simple.**

**I forgot!**

**I didn't remember that I had a story and only just remembered when my sis wanted to start her own and wanted the computer. I was 'Oh Shit!' and wrote like ten pages on the spot. So if there's anything that contradicts with the rest of the chapters or doesn't make no sense what so ever give a notice will ya? Thanks.**

**Later. I'll try to update faster allright?**


	10. Chapter 9: Sayonara Samurai!

**_A Brother's Duty! Kanaye's Greatest Fear Comes to Life!_ **

**I do not own Naruto, or anything relating to it. I simply created this story. **

**- **

The man of high status...now known as the Hokage, Konohagakure's greatest ninja, was rubbing his temple's to relieve himself from the mental exasperation he was feeling at the moment.

His ANBU patrols had given a visit to their new friend. And had lost terribly when a confrontation had begun. He really didn't expect any more or less from his shinobi. As strong as the leaf ninja were, only a handful of individuals were a match against this opponent. And that was only if the strange newcomer felt like doing nothing more than playing!

The scroll that was delivered to him from his ANBU lay open before him. It gave him all the details of who the person was and why he was here. And quite frankly, he was surprised, he didn't expect to see the man so soon. He must have finished his business sooner than expected, or wants to find some more chess pieces for his games.

The Hokage leaned back on his chair; he closed his eyes and calmed his mind. Recalling events in life that had since passed decades ago. It had taken the ANBU nearly a day to ensure the scroll wasn't rigged by any kind of jutsu or explosive, but he still had relatively little peace even after he had opened the message.

As soon as it was opened a rookie ANBU had tackled him to the ground to 'protect' him from an imaginable explosion. He was slightly pissed, but let it slide, becoming an ANBU was like starting over as a ninja all over again, as the missions strain the mind and body to near complete destruction. He had dismissed the ANBU right after the incident, but a few others still lurked in the shadows right now, he couldn't blame them, it was their job to protect him after all.

The sound of laughing children suddenly distracted the Hokage's attention from his recent... annoyances, and directed it to something more interesting.

It was a new day, and the children had flocked to the storyteller like they had everyday for the past few days. The mysterious traveler beside him, acting as a jungle gym/ pillow/ playmate for the children.

The Hokage could easily make out the words coming from Rai's mouth. And he too smiled at the story told.

-

When Naruto awoke from the realm of sleep, he expected to see white walls and the scent of blood and chemicals to rush into his lungs. Instead, he sees a tent made of some kind of animal hide torn and battered from time and the calming smell of slow burning incense.

Naruto then heard murmuring to the side of him, and saw that he was not the only person in a bed. Mamoru, seemed like he had just finished dressing, meaning he had awoken not that long ago. Kanaye hovered worriedly over a person he could not see, but was scared nonetheless. Very few things got Kanaye scared, and the things that did... Naruto would rather not think about things like that. Kano stood beside Kanaye and Gaara was sitting on a bed not too far away from Kanaye, eyeing the thing Kanaye was stressing over with equal intensity. But as Naruto scanned the tent, he noticed that he couldn't see either Hinata or Haru.

"Ugh, damn Akatsuki, the bastards deserved more than what they got..." Naruto painfully sat up, ignoring most of the pain he felt in his body. His joints snapped, his muscles strained against themselves to move, and he felt as if someone had dipped his skin in stomach acid.

So great was the pain that he felt, he didn't even notice when Hinata entered the tent, a scroll held tightly in her hands. "You're awake..."

Naruto looked towards the voice and was happy to see Hinata, he had wanted to speak to her about Konoha. But before he could raise his voice, Kanaye ran towards Hinata with a pleading look in his eye.

"Hina-hime, please tell me you brought good news, my little brother is dying there!"

Naruto was shocked by Kanaye's words and turned slowly to where Haru lay. He was deathly pale, and Naruto could barely hear his shallow breathing. He smelled of sickness and sweat, signaling that he had a fever. Naruto was no doctor, and having never been sick before in his entire life, he really couldn't give an honest opinion on Haru's health, but it looked bad... really bad.

"So we're going to Waterfall country?" Naruto was barely able to recognize Mamoru's voice, he had not heard him talk that much with his own voice, considering the eight-tail was the one talking to them for most of the fight yesterday. But what did he mean about Waterfall country? And this 'we'? Did he decide to join Yoinokuchi?

Naruto turned his attention to the conversation that he seemed to be missing, he had still not recovered, and he's starting to hear this annoying ringing in his ears. Probably an after-affect from the huge battle.

"Ugh, so you guys mind tellin' me what the hell is going on? And while you're at it, what's up with Haru? Little guy doesn't look too good."

All of Yoinokuchi looked towards Naruto with varying expressions. Kanaye's still had one of panic and distress, but slight relief. Gaara's had a visage of that of stone, unfazed from his awakening. Mamoru was undoubtedly impressed, as his eyes were wide and mouth was slightly agape. Both Kano and Hinata regarded him with adoration, but the girl watched him with something more, it was similar to that of longing, but satisfaction as well. Haru, was of course, ignorant of his awakening.

Gaara, the least effected of his friends recovery reacted first. "It is about time you awoke Uzumaki. I was beginning to think that you would need two days of rest."

"Heh, dream on Gaara, it'll take more than two Akatsuki members to do that to me." Naruto winced as he began to sit up, Hinata blurred to his side immediately, causing Naruto to flush slightly in surprise. "Uh, thanks Hinata." The girl reddened but said nothing. She quietly helped the blonde up in sitting position and stood beside him. Naruto thanked her once again before turning to the rest. "Now what's this about Waterfall country? And seriously speaking, what's up with Haru-kun?"

The entire group grew somber at the mention of Haru, but all looked to Kanaye. It was his story to tell.

"Haru...is sick. He's been like that ever since he was born, Okaa-sama...she died when Haru was born. Her family had a history of having a rare illness" Kanaye stalled a moment, painful memories resurfacing in his mind.

"The disease slowly ate away at the victim. It could come at any age, or never at all. Otou-sama was a doctor, he helped Okaa-sama with her illness. But when Okaa-sama had Haru, she died in labor..." Hinata gasped, memories of her own mother coming upon her now. Gaara looked away, the words his dead uncle told him plaguing his mind.

"Otou-sama fell apart, he became quieter, more like someone else. I had to raise Haru alone because of his strange behavior, then one day...he just died. He was on his bed dead, I think, it was too much for him so he just, let go. He was the only one I knew who could treat Okaa-san in the grass village. Without him, I just don't know what to do"

Naruto was silent for a long time, looking past everyone else and setting his eyes on Haru. Sickness was a vice of life that had been removed from all Jinchuuriki, the natural immune system of the human body being multiplied a dozen fold by the strength of the demons within them. At that moment, Naruto had wished upon his curse on another for the first and final time, if only to remove the burden Haru had to face.

"But..." Hinata was the one that had spoken up, which was strange as Naruto never knew the girl to do that. "There is a way to save him, but it's a long shot..."

"What is it? Does it involve the 'Hero Water' of Waterfall? 'Cause I can tell you now it won't work. That stuff comes with a price." Naruto hoped he had not crushed any hopes of Kanaye, but better to tell him now and save Haru later, than to never tell him and loose Haru forever. Hinata was about to reply when an elderly voice sounded out.

"Close, but not quite young man. I assume you have had contact with the water from the village of Takigakure to state such a claim." The old man was wearing polished golden armor, a golden shine was flashed with every movement he made. His helmet was shaped differently than the other samurai he had met so far, it was shaped like the tri-cornered hats of the five Kages of the shinobi world, but with intricate accessories decorating it here and there.

Naruto nodded slowly, and examined the newcomer more carefully. If the hat was any indication of his strength, and the guards appearing quickly after he did, then this was a man importance. "You could say that, I take it you are the head of the Samurai?"

"Yes, I am Nobunaga of our village of Patience, and I am one of the five great Shogun of the Elemental Continent." The old man's words were humble but were lined with warning. This guy was someone to keep an eye on, and he was stuffing it in their faces. "Now that I have introduced myself to you, may you please tell me your names?" His eyes pierced through Naruto, obviously not wanting any bullshit and wanting his answers now. Naruto relented, if only to be left alone with his group for a while.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto...a ninja from Konohagakure, the redhead over there is Gaara of the Desert, another ninja, but of Sunagakure. The goliath over there taking care of his younger brother Haru, is Kanaye, he is our traveling companion from Grass country. Kano was a prisoner under false charges that we released in Rain country, and the lady right here is an old friend of mine from Konoha. We are traveling to try and stop things like this from happening"

The face of the man remained unchanged after the introductions, he clearly did not care that they were ninja's. "Do you know who attacked our village?" His tone was one of business, cold and direct. He suddenly brought up his hand and snapped his fingers. Naruto had almost leapt to the old man thinking it was a signal to attack them, but quickly calmed himself as he saw the ground behind the shogun come to life to form a simple chair for him to sit on. The shogun did so, but the look eyes had been given a new element...interest, and were now analyzing Naruto for some unknown reason. **(Remember, I _HATE_ YAOI!!!!)**

Naruto pondered about telling him the truth, or maybe to lie to his face. He decided on the former, not wanting to deal with more problems in the near future should his lies be discovered. Besides, Akatsuki may want to return to this village after the failed extraction, it was best that this village knew what they were dealing with. "Yes, a criminal organization that names itself Akatsuki. They are a group of nine s-class criminal ninjas, with malicious intent to all but themselves. Their current goal is to gather demons and demon vessels and steal the demonic power of the beasts"

The shogun regarded Naruto silently, processing the information in his head. "These Akatsuki, appeared shortly after you did... Does that mean you led them here?"

Silence prevailed the group for a moment, clearly no one had thought of that before.

Blades could be heard leaving the sheathes, the noise of metal scraping wood was painfully slow and obvious that it would lead to something terrible if something was not said soon.

Naruto knew he was in no position to turn the situation towards his favor, he had to do something quick, before any blood was spilled.

Luckily for Naruto, Gaara answered for him. "Humph, do not think we are so stupid that we have not covered our tracks. These Akatsuki members have been here long before us, how else were they able to amass such a large army of those things otherwise? We did not lead them here, if anything, they discovered on their own that this village housed one of the tailed beast. These people_ are_ the pinnacle examples of ninja...few things, if any, can hide from them for any period of time."

Silenced reigned once more, before the Shogun raised his hand and the Samurai re-sheathed their swords. A flash of anger and disappointment went through their eyes, Naruto could only guess why.

"So you know of the Earth Spirit, Mamoru. How did you receive this information? Not even our own feudal lord knows about this..."

Naruto decided to answer this question, and slowly got off his bed. Now standing with nothing but a shirt, his battle scars could be seen slowly healing as he ripped off the bandages wrapped around him. The samurai watched in awe and curiosity at the speed of the healing. Hinata watched in awe for other reasons, if her newly scarlet face would indicate anything.

Freed from his bindings, Naruto let out a sigh of comfort. "A friend gave it to us, that's all we really know about him. Other than that he is on or side."

The Shogun did not seem to like the response but had seen no deception in the blonde's eyes, and grudgingly accepted the answer. But his own eyes showed that he still had more questions to ask the group.

"If you did not aid these attackers, then who are you? And why did they focus their strength upon you? The surviving samurai claim that they saw a group of monsters in the battle, and that a single beast destroyed more of those skeletons than all of my people combined. Care to explain?"

"Do not play dumb shogun-sama, you already know why." Naruto sighed, why do these old men love these mind games? They're so annoying and tiresome.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't... its best to hear it from the horses mouth."

"Fox" Said Naruto sternly, as if offended to be called a horse.

"Excuse me?" The shogun had raised one of his eyebrows at the blonde ninja's reaction. It was strange that he had taken offense so easily.

"I...have a fox inside of me. The nine-tailed demon fox to be exact, it was sealed into me when it had attacked my home village. All of us, save for Haru-kun on the bed and Hinata, share a similar burden."

Gaara nodded and told the Shogun of his demon. "I hold the One-Tail, a sand incarnation in the shape of a tanuki."

"I have an ox, it gives me the power to control plants like I would my body, and it also gives me almost limitless strength." Kanaye said his piece without diverting his eyes from Haru, the sadness in his voice clearly evident.

Not missing a beat, Kano responded soon after Kanaye, shivering as he thought of his beast. "My...curse...is a shark from the deep ocean. It has five fins spread on its back to show its level of power."

Mamoru simply nodded to the Shogun, he did not need to say anything, and they both knew what he carried.

"I see..." The shogun rubbed his temples, he was getting a headache from all of this.** Four** other jinchuuriki? It was not impossible, but it was also highly improbable. Demons have all but disappeared from the face of the Earth, the need for sealing them away had diminished with their disappearance, greatly reducing their numbers.

But the jinchuuriki made from those original sealing methods lived on after the disappearance of the monsters. Many settled down and had families, and that marked the beginning of bloodline limits all over the world.

"So, what do you plan to do now? Are you just going to leave, wandering aimlessly until you encounter the Akatsuki again?" Shogun he may be, but he was a father, and a grandfather as well. These people, no...These children have been shouldering burdens that are seen as vile curse their entire life. And because these burdens, they are suffering from both people with malicious intent, and allies with smug contempt. He did not like to see the youth to suffer.

Naruto answered with such a fire in his eyes that they startled even the Shogun with the amount of confidence they displayed. "We will find a cure for Haru first, and then continue our search for more jinchuuriki like us. When we are strong enough...we will attack Akatsuki and crush them relentlessly, like pests under the soles of our feet!" For a brief moment, Naruto's eyes turned red, and his pupils had shaped themselves into slits. That brief glimpse of demonic influence was all the proof the shogun needed to believe in the children's words.

The shogun spread his sight among the rest of the group before him, wanting to see if they all held the same spark the boy did. The one with a brother was not really paying attention to the current conversation, deciding it was more important to keep watch over his blood than to listen to the current discussion. The silent child with ocean-blue hair had a haunted air about him, as if he hadn't known anything but anguish and despair most of his life, it was strange how he seemed to be drinking in the presence from the blond, drawing strength and life out of it. The sole girl of the group was desperately trying to sneak amorous glimpses to the blond, and failing miserably, though he did sense a deep well of power and determination hidden somewhere within her. The eyebrow-less boy was unreadable in any manner. His stance was lax, his eyes were clouded, and his face hardened, it was obvious he was dealing with an experienced politician with this person.

"Hmm..." The Shogun was at a loss on what to do, he had to pass some time of judgment on these travelers, for his people demanded it. It would be difficult to explain them the story of Akatsuki, and even more difficult them to convince them into not harming the children. He himself already knew of their existence, but had not known their name or their intentions. The Tsuchikage had explained on how they had learned that one of their most notorious missing-nins had joined a criminal organization for unknown purposes, and to prepare for a possible strike. But the information was so old and vague that it was tossed aside after the all years it had passed.

Suddenly, the old man had an interesting idea. These children could not be passed as victims, for they suffered no losses during the attack, but they are not in fact the instigators seeing as they fought against the actual attackers. So why not pass them off as a timely outside-chance intervention? Simple mercenaries without any connections that had decided to attack these so-called S-rank criminals of Akatsuki for a potential bounty? It would be difficult to pass off, but it should work.

The wizened old man stood and walked towards the blonde ninja, nothing about the shogun revealed any of his intentions towards Naruto or the group, but Gaara and Hinata were wary of him, being slightly paranoid from their ninja upbringing; Gaara summoned a puddle of sand ready to be molded into a weapon while Hinata slowly fell into Jyuuken. The samurai noticed the suspicious actions of the foreign ninja and could not help but grip their blades tighter and find better footing. Mamoru, lost on what to do, could only sit back and observe the events taking place. Kano was in the dark of what was happening, but not for lack of trying, unlike Kanaye, who at the moment couldn't care less what was happening around him unless if it could help Haru.

As the shogun took long strides towards the unofficial leader to Yoinokuchi, he pleasantly surprised that he was met halfway to the blonde boy when Naruto himself decided to take a step to intercept him. Both took out a blade ready to slice something open, possibly each other; but at the moment, they did nothing.

Another minute passed with the tension growing ever so painfully, numerous beads of sweat was beginning to form on the heads of the battle-ready warriors, only waiting for the signal to launch their attacks from their respective leaders. Mamoru and Kano, the only ones unready for combat besides the brothers from Grass, could only stand and watch the air around them thicken.

Suddenly an order came from both leaders at a tone so quick and cold that all four battle-ready warriors literally tripped over their feet in complete surprise.

"Stand Down!"

The comical scene was only recognized by Kano as he began laughing hysterically at the humorous positions the four collapsed warriors were in. Mamoru looked down to hide his own chortles; as always, Kanaye and Haru remained unresponsive.

Picking what remaining dignity with themselves up, the four collapsed warriors stood once more, if a bit more lax than before their stumble. Hinata and Gaara glared lightly at Naruto, blaming him for their stumble, the same could be said for the samurai at the other side of the tent.

Naruto and the shogun either chose to ignore the glares they were receiving or disregard it completely as they continued to stare blankly at each others faces.

With the same sudden action they used to order their previous commands, the two leaders sliced open their palms and grasped each others bleeding hands, it was the first time everyone in the tent saw a blooded pact in their lifetimes.

Then with a creepy synchronization that seemed practiced to perfection, the two leaders spoke as if they were one. **"I the leader of my people swear by the bond of our lost blood that we are forever now known as brothers and sisters in arms."**

Naruto suddenly broke off the synchronized speaking to say his own part. "Yoinokuchi swears on its own life that we shall slay the enemies of our new found brethren and bring back the lost honor of the sleeping warriors on hallow ground." **(AN: Is it hallow of hollow ground for graveyards?)**

The shogun then began his own recitation. "The Village of Patience swears on its lost blood that we will support and protect the goals of Yoinokuchi and see that that very dream is reached, regardless of the cost."

Both leaders took a deep breath and released their grip on eachothers hand before talking as one a final time. "**The deed is done, and the die has been cast; only fate decides what will happen next"**

The two men were surprised at the silence that reigned after their execution of such a deed, after all, wouldn't said deed earn a great amount of commotion?

**"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING?!"** chorused three voices.

Ah, that was better.

"We made an alliance, what does it look like Gaara?" Naruto had a knowing smirk on his face, the kind you see when someone close to you knows something important but wants to see you squirm trying to figure out what.

While Gaara himself did not squirm, Hinata and Mamoru did. "How in the world did you figure out how to make a blooded pact? Only the eldest of people in the world know that! No offense Shogun-sama." Hinata bowed to the old man with a light blush at the unintentional jab, but stood back up to glare apathetically at Naruto, hoping to intimidate him to answer her question.

It worked, as Naruto involuntarily took a step back from Hinata's glare and recomposed himself. "You learn a lot of things when traveling with an ancient perverted hermit, and I'm not just talking about jutsu here." He shot a wink to Hinata, who suddenly lost control of her stoicism and blushed a lovely shade of red matching Gaara's hair.

"In any matter that is not the topic of the current conversation. Boy, or should I say Naruto?" Naruto waved his hand in front of his face sending the message that he didn't really care. " I take it you know the severity of the situation?" Naruto simply nodded. "Then who will you offer to be the groom or bride?" While the rest of Yoinokuchi fell flat on their faces, Kanaye and Mamoru included, Naruto took a moment to think who would be the best choice, he did not need to think hard.

"Haru will be the offered groom"

The shogun raised an eyebrow to Naruto's claim and was about to ask him to explain why the child when Kanaye suddenly ran to the blond, locked him under his arm, and asked to be excused.

-

A few dozen meters from the tent, a little girl was looking for doll when she noticed an untouched flower garden, the bulbs were still closed when she neared them but as she touched one of the flowers with her hand the entire garden opened up with life. Surprised at the sudden blossoming, she was amazed to find her doll in the flower bed, she picked it up attentively and walked away slowly looking back at the flowers. Strangely enough, the bulbs closed just a little bit more with every step that she took.

When she was completely gone the flowers closed once more, as if only wanting to reveal their beauty to the little girl alone.

-

"What in $# are you doing little &! I should rip your arms out of your sockets and beat you all the way to god-damn hell with them!"

Kanaye was currently strangling Naruto with all of his might and shaking him around as if he were a bottle of chocolate milk. His anger was quite apparent, as many onlookers noticed. They were after all outside of the tent in the open.

"Can" -shake- "I" -throttle- "talk" -toss- "now?" -Plop-

Naruto wheezed for a little while as oxygen finally reached his lungs in survivable amounts. Finally relaxed, Naruto stood to Kanaye and gave his explanation.

"Look Kanaye, if I offer Haru as the groom he'll have a way better chance in getting to the doctor in time." Kanaye had a semi-perplexed look added to his already burning glare, but he made no other outward reaction prompting Naruto to continue. "It's in both ours and the shoguns best interests if Haru lives, so naturally they'll help us where we need help since Haru is involved. Shogun-ojii-san will make sure of it."

Kanaye looked away for a moment before snorting heavily like a frustrated bull, but when he turned back to Naruto, he had a sincere look of gratitude on his face. Kanaye then walked back into the tent, intending to lever leave Haru's side again.

Naruto watched Kanaye walk back into the tent when he felt a cool breeze blow by, he looked around to see he was the current object of interest as he was only clad in the bandages he was wrapped in and the boxer shorts he had on before the fight. With what should be considered an embarrassed squeal, Naruto jumped and dashed back into tent, leaving a street full of onlookers disappointed, amused, and interested.

-

"-in a few hours"

"I see..."

"Naruto what do you think?"

Still grumbling about perverted civilians and a certain lecherous hermit, Naruto could only answer with an eloquent. "Huh, what?"

Hinata sighed, she should have known better than to think Naruto's attention span had improved, but a girl could hope...and dream...and fantasize... in a matter of seconds Hinata was once again staring into space with half-open eyes and a growing blush on her cheeks, dreams of her most precious person and herself doing things she could hardly bring herself the courage to do in the real world.

Confused at Hinata's strange behavior, Naruto just swiftly moved around her and glanced at her form one last time in a slightly disturbed manner before focusing his attention to Gaara and Mamoru, who had repeated their proposition to him. It seems that Gaara wanted to leave as quickly as possible, in a few hours in fact, but would allow time for Naruto to discuss the alliance details with the shogun for a small amount of time, as soon as he is done they should leave immediately right after. No one new how long Haru's window of opportunity, if any, would last.

Naruto nodded and picked up some clothing that was left for him at the tents entrance. It was somewhat plain, but it was satisfactory in his tastes. He wore dark green cargo pants that hugged his legs a bit, but it was for the better since he was a ninja... baggy clothes did get in the way too much. Instead of sandals he now wore dark leather boots, it had built-in shin guards so the neck stretched up to a little below his knee. Naruto was also given a semi-baggy black turtle neck that was worn over a plain white tee, there was some flexible plate armor to put under his shirts and the ensemble came with metal plates to be placed near the fore-arm for further protection. He opted to keep the bandages on his head, its not like he wanted everyone to know he had a demonic entity sealed within him.

Though he appreciated the gifts given to him, Naruto couldn't help but feel disappointed. _(No orange...) _He thought.

Satisfied as to how he felt after breaking in the new clothes, Naruto finally noticed that the others had clothing somewhat similar to him, with only some differences in some cases. Gaara for example had the exact same clothing as him, but it came with more desert-oriented colors, with both the pants and shirt being in some shade of brown or beige. Kanaye had ripped the sleeves off his shirts and walking barefoot, he didn't seem to mind the sharp stones and rubble poking his feet. _(Skin's probably too thick to pierce through...) _thought Naruto as he saw that Kano's clothing being slightly less conservative... as if the clothes maker thought he was woman. _(Well, I guess he does look like a girl if you didn't see his face. A flat-chest, but definitely a girl.)_ Haru wore the exact same as he and Kanaye, but had shorts instead of pants. Hinata, who was still staring into space with a very ero-sennin like smile, had clothes that looked nearly identical to Kano's. _(It's official, _ _Kano__ is the new Haku. I have to change that.)_ Mamoru was the only one that had a different set of clothes. He had armor-plated leather pants and boots, a thin sleeveless tank top was placed over his portly frame but had what seemed to be a smith's apron over it. He also had a giant pack on his back, Naruto could make out what looked to be a handle for an equally giant weapon poking out of it, but a handle for what he did not know.

Pondering what could be in Mamoru's sack, Naruto left the tent calling out to the rest saying he would be back in a few hours.

-

Hundreds of miles away from the samurai village, in a cavern deep within the depths of Lightning Country, a chorus of rhythmic chanting could be heard as they echoed within the walls of the underground tunnels.

The body of a woman was laid out on the floor, she was obviously dead as there was no light within her eyes, yet there was no trace of the cause of her death on her body. There was no stench of illness around her, and she had still had yet to begin life as she did not look over thirty. Her body was not bruised or even cut, her neck was the same shade of pale white as the rest of her body, indicating no signs of suffocation, add to the fact that there are no lakes deep enough within a few hundred kilometers of the location, it is easily determined that the woman had not drowned.

It was if she simply ceased to live.

The haunting mumbling suddenly stopped, the chanters silently stood and brought out a jewel-laden ceremonial dagger made of silver. Each brought out their hands and used the danger to slit their wrist, the blood of their wounds traveling down small crevices in the ground towards the body. The blood circled around the woman, it bubbled as it flowed in circles until it lost momentum. The people who sacrificed their scarlet waters began making shinobi seals at an accelerated pace, making seals until their hands were nothing but a blur. After an uncountable number of seals, the people slammed their hands on the ground, at first nothing happened; then the extraordinary took place. The blood, which was once as still as the woman suddenly came to life, flying into the sky and picking the woman up with it. The blood formed a sphere around the dead body and spun around not unlike a certain blond's ultimate technique, the woman was completely hidden within it.

Almost as quickly as the chanting ended, the spinning world of blood came to a halt and imploded on itself. One would think that whatever the group was planning to do have backfired, that one would be wrong. As testament to that fact, the cloaked individuals grinned like madmen before disappearing in clouds of smoke; a single cloaked man was left overlooking the woman's body.

She was now full of color, the blood had turned her once dead organs into a healthy system of tissue, and her upper body slowly rose and fell with the inflation and deflation of her lungs the woman began to move, muscles fully functioning, and stood on wobbly legs. After getting a feel for her new body, she walked up to the man who had brought back the breath of life to her.

She slapped him. Hard.

The man chuckled softly, but anyone could tell there was no joy in it.

"Now, now, Mo-Chan" He started mockingly. "Is that any way to treat Aniki?"

The woman's pain-filled screams replaced the chants for the next hour.

-

Back in Earth Country, there was group dressed in similar robes standing in front of an entire village of samurai beside a destroyed mountainside.

"Sorry about your mountain."

Yoinokuchi stood at the gaping opening on the mountain Naruto had made while in his demonic state. The local scholars had estimated it to be at least seventy-five meters (two-hundred-fifty feet) wide and sixty meters (two-hundred feet) tall. The most astonishing thing about it was the sides were flat and smooth, similar to sandpapered wood.

"Don't worry about it; I'll just make another one"

Yoinokuchi chuckled at the shoguns quick statement, but couldn't help but wonder if the old man was telling the truth. None of them have seen the old man fight yet, but they knew deep within their souls that the kindly grandfather like figure was immensely powerful.

"I'm sure you will" Naruto turned to look at his friends. "Well guys, let go!"

With an explosion of smoke, the entire group had disappeared, a single note left behind. The Shogun went to pick it up and stood for a few moments, reading the letter, as he finished he simply put it away under his armor and kept looking forward, as if patiently waiting for the group to return.

The village still stood there for next few moments, before they finally began to break apart to tent to their duties. By the time all the civilians had left there were only seven people left, the shogun and the remaining members of his family.

The youngest of the five spoke first. "Grandpa...why did Mamoru-Nii-chan go with those people?"

The old man looked down at the little girl. She was his granddaughter, the youngest of three. She had hard time making friends because of that fact, and her extremely overprotective brothers were of no help. Those two were so much like their father and mother that it was frightening, in contrast, she was so different from either parent that it was a mystery to all who knew her where she gotten her personality.

"Mamoru has been destined for great things since he was still a newborn Ai-Chan... with those people, our new brothers and sister, I have no doubt his name will be known all over the world. Him and Uzumaki-kun..."

The two older brothers had raised their eyebrows at him, the blond that had stormed their tent in the middle of an important family meeting, screaming about some blood pact or whatever. Their grandfather had told them to stand down before they fully understand what the hell was going on, and showed Naruto his sound-proof stone mausoleum summon. They had no idea what the two talked about, but once they got out both their grandfather and the blond had similar giant smiles. It was unnerving at first, but the two soon got a hold of their visitor's exuberant behavior, and had actually grown to like the loud boy, despite his disturbing eccentric personality.

"Why that guy gramps? He doesn't look anything too special, unless if you count insanity as greatness!"

The two boys failed at hiding their snickering in front of their mother and promptly got thwacked over the head from her naginata; the shogun, still smiling simply shook his head, musing lightly at the joys of youth.

"Regardless of what you two might think, there is no doubt in my mind that Naruto will achieve greatness greater than that of legends…yes, he will be the few who will be remembered for generations to come, until time itself is gone."

The entire family was staring at the old man, for as long as they have known him they have learned that he is never wrong when categorizing people. It was that trait among many other virtues that had risen him to the title of shogun. For him to mach such a statement from knowing the boy in such a small amount of time, it left them speechless…all except for one.

The youngest of the group hugged her doll close to her and muttered unimpressed at her grandfather's statement. "I just hope Uzumaki-san will protect Mamoru-kun for me…"

Nobunaga looked down towards his granddaughter and sighed, he did not want to be the one who tells her this information, mostly because she won't talk to him for the next several days, or weeks, possible months…it would depend on her mood.

"Actually Ai-Chan…I have to talk to you about that"

The girl known as Ai-Chan looked up towards her grandfather, cocking her head to the side in an adorable fashion that made Nobunaga's duty all that much harder. The damn doll didn't help any either, he had given it to her for her birthday last year.

"I might have done something that would, how do say this? Hmm…'hamper' your chances to wed Mamoru."

The girl had gone completely stiff as she stared almost lifelessly at her grandfather, her head still cocked to one side. Her frozen state was beginning to greatly worry her family until her lips finally parted to whisper three little words that held a frost so cold it had literally dropped the surrounding temperature to an absolute zero.

_"What was that?!" _

Nobunaga gulped _(She's just like her grandmother…too much like her) _"I kind of arranged a marriage between you and one of the boys in Naruto's group of friends."

Four waves of killing intent hit him at that moment, one mild wave from his own daughter, two decent sized waves from the two brothers, and an almost suffocating level from his granddaughter.

"**Who?**"

_(Here it comes)_ Thought Nobunaga. "The sick boy, Haru"

The resulting screams of pain could be described only as unholy.

-

It was amazing just how much could happen between the span of two time periods, regardless of the length of time passed between said periods.

Yoinokuchi had just barely hit the Waterfall Country border several minutes before, the thankfully-accepted hospitality of the samurai village had not only healed them of any injuries, but the unique medicines of the warrior village had even improved their performance a great deal that day. It was the sole reason that the group was already deep in the outskirts of a decent sized border village in Waterfall country.

During their tree-running, Naruto was observing Hinata in a manner never before seen from him. He was quiet…that enough was astounding, but with his silence came the disturbing sight of him breaking down Hinata's mental and emotional barriers desperately trying to figure out why she said what she said.

The said girl was taking point, with a stony expression that normally reserved for intense recon missions. She had been like that ever since confronting Naruto.

The rest of the group was regarding the events between the two. They did not know which one would be the more difficult to crack, the emotion-dense knucklehead, or the impossibly meek princess.

Mamoru himself was scratching his head in confusion, he understood that the girl was just as new member as he himself was, but he had gathered that she has known the blond fox-container since they were mere toddlers. So why was she so nervous in describing her almost painfully obvious emotions to the blind fool? Mamoru replayed the conversation in his head, hoping to find the answer somewhere there.

-

_"Hey Hinata, how were you able to find us?" _

_Hinata nearly toppled over the branch she just landed on, being caught by Gaara's sand just before she plummeted to the ground below. She quickly thanked Gaara before shakily answered Naruto's inquiry. "Ano…what did you say Naruto-kun?" _

_Naruto frowned; he did not like the tone in Hinata's voice. "How were you able to find us? In fact, how did you even get to Earth country? I don't think Konoha would let the Hyuuga heiress run free to track own the demon of the village." There was a hint of bitterness in his voice, but whether it was directed to the village or the Kyuubi was debatable. _

_Hinata gulped, she did not know how to react. This would prove to be the perfect opportunity to express her feelings for her blond-haired hero, but she didn't think she could gather the courage to tell him so blatantly in front of so many people… _

_"Um, when Naruto-kun left Konoha, Godaime-sama sent many teams to try and find Naruto-kun. We found our first clue in Grass country when the grass-nin spoke of three powerful demon ninja. Suna, our allies from wind country, has declared Naruto-kun and Gaara-san as S-rank missing-nin." _

_Gaara and Naruto looked at each other at the fact. They should have known Yoshi would have pulled something like that, but had he really risen to power that quickly? _

_Hinata did not notice the look the two shinobi shared and continued her explanation. "Um, a team was sent to Suna to see why Gaara-san was declared missing-nin. We found out Suna is in civil war, and many of Suna's forces have deserted to Konoha." _

_Gaara halted at that and everyone else followed suite. "Hinata –san, can you please explain why?" Gaara's voice was curt and to the point, and there was hint of anxiousness in his voice. It was obvious that this news was beginning to disturb him greatly. _

_Hinata nodded her head shyly, she was not used to being the center of attention; particularly a Kage's or her Naruto-kun's, she just hoped she didn't faint. "Um, the new Kazekage is being supported by the majority of the village, but there is a sizeable group that have left from his rule. There is a war within the village to find Gaara's loyalists, but the new Kazekage cannot find them…He…the new Kazekage…has asked Konoha for help for eliminating Gaara-san's loyalists." _

_The air had grown impossibly tense at the statement. There was obvious rage suppressed within Gaara, who had to forcibly reign his emotions in to ask his next question. "Has…has Konoha helped Yoshi?" Gaara hacked a bit at saying the name, it had left a bitter taste in his mouth. Gaara refused to see the traitor as Kazekage, and would sooner bury himself in his own sand than call that asshole his village's leader. _

_Hinata noticed his anger, but smiled happily. She knew this next part would make him happy, if he could feel happy that is. "Konoha has said that it is too busy fighting Otogakure, and the Akatsuki. Godaime-sama has also said that all resources have been used to find our own missing-nin." Hinata's voice quieted as she reached the end of her piece, and refused to look at Naruto in the eyes. Naruto simply clenched and unclenched his hands. _

_Still not satisfied Gaara asked hi final and most important question. "And…my sister Temari? And my brother Kankouro? What of them? Are they safe?" _

_Once again Hinata smiled almost mockingly so, and stared Gaara in the eye. "Gaara-sama, who do think started the war? Baki and you're siblings are safely hidden behind Konoha's walls." _

_Gaara had not reacted outwardly towards Hinata's words, but everyone could easily see that Gaara had been affected by the news. It seems his trust in Konoha was well-placed, and that it might just see a much friendlier Suna when he returned. Kanaye made a mental note to talk to Gaara later. He wanted to know about the red-head's family. But Haru was first, Gaara can wait. _

_Hinata saw that Gaara was sated by her answers and turned to Naruto to finish answering his questions. "My team was dispatched along with Kakashi-san, Yamato-san, Sai-kun and Sakura-sempai to track and locate Naruto-kun. After an ambush by sound-nin I was separated from the group during the battle. I ended up washed up in a river bordering Rain country and Earth country, when I used my Byakuugan to figure out my location, I spotted Naruto-kun and his friends…so I decided to follow you" _

_Naruto contemplated this new information, it has not been a long time since his abrupt end with Konoha; at best it has only been a couple of months. If the people of Konohagakure have been searching for him for all that time…could Hinata really be the only Leaf-nin to have found him? It does not seem plausible to simply accept that fact; nor wise, but as hard as he tried, Naruto could not feel a trace of deception leek out from her being. Satisfied, Naruto gave a big toothy smile and patted Hinata on the shoulder. _

_"Well that's a relief! I'm glad I can trust you Hinata!" _

_Hinata gave a small smile and nodded weakly towards the blonde, and hesitantly asked a question that had been plaguing her mind since the moment he left. "So are you not returning to Konoha Naruto-kun?" _

_… _

_The silence that followed seemed to have been familiarized with the small fledgling organization. It would have seemed to end the rest of the conversation there if Naruto had not answered after his long silence. _

_"I…don't know Hinata, I just don't know…." _

_Nodding in understanding, Hinata had stayed respectfully quiet, but not without letting out a blissful whisper. _

_"I will follow you anywhere my Naruto-kun…" _

_Just as sporadically as Hinata had fallen, Naruto lost his balance in a flash of red and toppled to the grass below, had it not been for Gaara's second timely intervention, they would have surely been delayed another day's worth of travel…or at least a few hours. As Naruto got his bearings straight for the umpteenth time that day, he nervously twitched in Hinata's direction. "D-Did you mean that Hinata?" _

_Like the countless times before in days past, Hinata fell forward in a dead faint, she was caught yet again by Gaara's sand and was awoken by Naruto's constant ramblings of her safety. _

_She had not said a word when she woke up, and has yet to do so. _

-

Mamoru rubbed the back of his neck in complete confusion, the fairer sex was so…impossible to understand. Even with the vast levels of intellect he could tap from the ancient 8-talied elephant, women were still one of 'life's great mysteries' to him.

Noticing that the state of the current communication situation had not changed, Mamoru continued into the depths of his mind, wondering about the exchange between Shogun-sama and his new blonde-haired idiot of a friend.

-

Nobunaga was not fairing well at the moment.

After the brutal beat down that had come from his granddaughter… (Which he would later threaten his grandsons to never reveal under pain of seppuku) he had to suffer a terrible tongue lashing from his daughter no less! That had not sat well with his throbbing headache from the child's bokken. His son did not even bother with him at all, simply offering his old man the best of luck and his sympathies. He was smart enough not to coil himself with his sister's anger.

It was only after he was able to grunt a few key-words through his daughter's naginata that she had finally calmed. She had bit her lip but nodded in understanding nonetheless, her husband would have done the same thing. She gave a whisper of an apology to her again father before leaving to console her own tearing daughter. When she passed her brother, the male had let out a shiver that was building within him. Damn his older sis was scary! He hoped his father didn't bruise too badly, he was getting old.

The younger male sibling walked to his father's unmoving form and gave him a firm kick to his gut, and soon found himself on the floor. His old man still got it.

Nobunaga sat up straight as hissed as he did so, his son did the same and he gave him a look. A shrug was his reply. The aging shogun then checked what his girls were doing.

Right now the two she-demons were busy consoling each other, or rather, the mother she-demon was letting the lesser she-demon cry her heart out on her shoulder. The older one was still glaring daggers at him, but not so much as before, now that she knew the truth, but she wouldn't admit it in front of her own daughter even if threatened by the devil himself.

Summoning the life of the nearby Earth to encircle him, the aging shogun healed his screaming wounds with the fertile nutrients in the soil. Refreshed, he motioned his son Hideyoshi to follow him back to his tent with a visible limp.

The two walked in total silence for a whole two minutes before the younger soul finally asked something that had been bothering him. "Are you really serious about the arrangement?"

The old man cast a sly eye to his son. "When am I not serious about these things Hideyoshi?"

The son gave a conceding nod before mentioning the women one last time.

"They will get over it in time, everybody does, whether they realize it or not… what I worry about is if the boy will be able to hold out long enough to find the cure in order to withhold that bargain."

Hideyoshi simply raised an eyebrow in question to what he meant.

"You see, the fact of the matter is…"

-

_"My men found this in your hand when you woke up, none of our alchemists or seal masters were able to crack it. From your friend I presume?" _

_The two men had just finished working out the details of the arranged marriage, and were about to begin about the arrangements for their leave when Nobunaga suddenly became aware of the scroll that had been taunting his village's greatest minds for nearly a day. It had already claimed two scholars and had incapacitated one of his strongest warriors for weeks to come. _

_When Naruto inspected the scroll he really did not know what to say, the last scroll they had received looked just like this one…and both looked like scrolls that you could buy at the local pawn shop. It could have come from nearly anyone, even someone you may not like. _

_Like the Akatsuki. _

_Who's to say one of their agents might have placed it in his hand hoping to get him to open it, he could very well be playing into their insane hands. Or, it really could be from the weird guy he and Gaara met in Rain country and the seemingly innocent scroll could point them in the right direction. _

_Naruto looked at the shogun from the corner from his eye… maybe… _

_Naruto shook his head; he could tell that the shogun was just as much in the dark as he was and had no idea what the details of the scroll withheld. _

_"Well there's only one way to find out neh?" _

_With careful precision that seemed oddly comfortable to the blonde, the scroll was broken open. _

_The shogun drew his sword and focused his charka the second the seal was broken, he was expecting some magnificent explosion or dazzling electricity to shoot out of the parchment. Imagine his surprise when all he got was the small beeps of a corny victory song and popping confetti with the message 'CONGRATULATIONS' in bold, loud orange letters. _

_The face-fault that followed did not sit well with the normally graceful shogun. _

_Naruto read the letter out loud, confident that the current surroundings were thick enough to not let any sound through. _

_The shogun nodded as the material was read out loud, but could not help but wonder how this so-called ally came to acquire all of their knowledge. Jinchuuriki, especially those with extremely powerful 'tenants' are kept secret to an extremely level. Only a fraction of the world knew of their meaning, fewer know their abilities, and fewer still knew of their locations. But this guy… he seems to know just about everything there is to know about these people, if he could get his hands on this type of information so easily… then just how much does he really know? _

_Coincidentally, it turns out that the next jinchuuriki belonged to an easy-to-defend but difficult-to-siege fishing village a couple of kilometers into the Waterfall-Earth country border. The map given gave indication that the forest around the village had disappeared since Nobunaga had a habit of collecting and memorizing maps and clearly remembered a forest being there originally. When he talked to Naruto about it the blonde simply shrugged it off, countering with the ancient overhead passage that had thought to be completely hidden from outsiders he and his friends used to enter the village in the first place. The shogun stayed quiet after that, and made a reminder for himself to make a better secret passageway next time. _

_The biju in question was the four-tailed wolf, and was easily distinguished in her vessels as they always had two crescent moon birthmarks on symmetrical parts of their faces. Unfortunately, there was no photo of the jinchuuriki available. It seems that the multiple attempts on the scroll had made it destroy some of the information inside; including the name, exact location, appearance, and relations of the jinchuuriki in question. But what it did contain was nothing short of planned convenience. _

_The jinchuuriki had the ability to heal any illness whether it was physical or spiritual due to its unique powers given to him or her by the four-tails. The scroll gave essential ingredients that the four-tails would need to cure little Haru from his hereditary sickness. It was if the person who wrote the scroll had already seen the events happening long before they were ever going to happen. That led to two asking an ungodly amount of questions about the abilities of this person that could some up to just one: just who is this man? Or more importantly, why wasn't he helping more than he already is? It certainly seems that he could do so… _

_After the last tidbits of info were read over, the two warriors decided it was time to leave the stone building and return to their respective subordinates, and agreed they would not speak of the more important details of this conversation ever again. _

_- _

The two men had been sitting in front of the make-shift market square that was put together after the controlled war the village has been in. It would take a few weeks to uproot the giant pillars of bone in the city and return the dead to their rightful place, luckily the city was carved into the mountain so all the village had to do was remove the bones and the rebuilding could begin immediately. Once that had started, the combined effort of the remaining samurai should rebuild their home in a matter of days, the shogun himself had the task of fixing the giant hole in the wall. He was not looking forward to that.

"Hmm… but father didn't you just break your promise by telling me all this?"

The shogun was broken out of his musings from his sons callings and gave him one of those irritating 'I know something you don't know' smiles before standing up and dusting himself off. "Now, now, son…you're a big boy, figure it out yourself!" and with that he went to go fix the hole in the wall, his son scowling behind him.

_(Ugh, I'm going to be sore tomorrow) _

_- _

SNAP

Hinata halted and raised her hand signaling the other to do the same. Her Byakuugan has been off for a while now, her charka stores begging for a rest. Naruto had proposed to walk the rest of the way for a bit of rest and to seem more like normal travelers in front of the villagers. They had not walked ten feet when the first signs of stalkers had made themselves known.

As soon as Hinata had raised her hand dozens upon dozens of people surged out of the woods, wielding some of the most exotic weaponry ever seen by the group. The people as well came in different shapes and sizes. Just how skilled were these people? To have been able to track and follow ninja in such a large number without being noticed? Hinata had not led them astray…had she? Or was it simply their luck as jinchuuriki that they have wandered straight into a hostile camp?

The group tightened around each other to form a circle. They were somewhat tired, outnumbered three-to-one, and had an absolute zero chance of back-up.

"Shit"

Kanaye's curse spoke volumes.

-

The children groaned in heavy displeasure when Rai decided to cut the tale, some even tackled him to the ground in an attempt to force him to tell the last bit. Rai himself simply gave a boisterous laugh before getting himself loose and reappearing a few dozen feet away, calling out to the rest "Same time and place tomorrow!" before using the body flicker technique to vanish into the setting sun.

The wanderer sat in his spot for just a while longer, watching the children as their families and friends came to pick them up. An hour later, he was still sitting in the same spot…alone.

The traveler stood up and walked towards the destination of his apartment intending to get some sleep, he looked towards the Hokage tower once and gave it the finger, chuckling as he did so. The old fart would know what that was about.

He did, but it didn't mean he was happy about it.


	11. Chapter 10: Bloody Hell!

I do not own anything related to the Naruto franchise since it all belongs to the creator dude and his publishers……Selfish bastards.

**The Land Where the Waterfall Runs Red. **

-

In the highest office of the village hidden in the leaves there was a man. A very stressed man.

This man had to shoulder heavy responsibilities that would break a many other men around the globe, but he had burdened it for the sake of his people. Day by day, week by week, the mental anguish was stacked on his mind. The only consolation he had was that there were four others like him going through the same thing. Today was a little different than most in that he had one specific document that gave him a particularly bad headache.

The scroll the ANBU had delivered to him sat innocently in front of him on his polished Oak desk. To any other person the scroll would seem irrelevant, almost nonexistent in terms of importance. But he knew of the significance within the scroll, that's what separated him from the rest of the ninja in the village. The scroll held an encrypted message in a different language on the other side of the planet. Few people in this continent knew the language as it were, and fewer still knew how to decode the unique system that its messenger used.

The tired leader looked out the window of his office. He had been stuck here for the last fifteen something hours trying to get this thing done. All other reports and blasted paperwork was sent to his support staff circulating the building. In all the time he had been in here, the leader never had time to notice how beautiful his village was at this time of year. Green was seen as far as the eye could see, with fauna and people could be seen curving through the color.

In one particular area a small cluster of his people circled around two others. The Kage smiled at the sight and turned back to his desk, reaching into a small compartment that very few know of, the leader pulled out a glistening crystal ball and set it upon his desk. The Kage focused a bit of chakra into his palms and willed the sphere to project an image.

Colors swirled in the sphere and blurred into shapes, the growing collection of pigmented light soon formed into solid shapes and formed definite lines. In a matter of moments the picture was completely clear and the motions were witnessed by the spying leader. Reaching into his vast history of espionage, the Kage read the lips of the most flamboyant character there, and soon found himself as deeply engrossed in the story as the children.

-

Yells and groans echoed through the trees as the forested valleys of Waterfall Country rocked with combat. Naruto and his comrades had no time to talk as the group that had surrounded them attacked immediately. Gaara had used his blooded sand to create a metallic dome to shield the unconscious Haru and defenseless Kano from the ambush while the others engaged in battle.

Hinata was taking on two enemies at once, he natural flexibility along with her private training had allowed her to expertly evade the two foes with tireless effort. Although her byakkugan remained inactive, she was easily whittling the two down with occasional glance hits of her family's trademark taijutsu. The other two were growing increasingly mad that they were losing to an exhausted foe, a woman no less! They had attacked at the most opportune moment and they still fail to defeat their opponent!

Not too far from the battling three, another confrontation of a greater scale took place. Kanaye and Mamoru were faring remarkably well, as it was to be expected from them. Kanaye's obviously superior taijutsu that he used against his four opponents was quickly showing just how dangerous an enraged bull could be, even Kanaye's own teammates felt phantom pain from the blows he dealt. Those closest to his fight would one day swear that they felt a shockwave of air pass through them every time he landed a blow.

Mamoru had finally displayed his massive mystery item from behind his back. It was a hammer, but an overly large and worn hammer. Nonetheless, it was very effective during battle. The heavy blunt object was sung in wide arcs in fairly surprising speed. While it was nothing remarkable by a katana's standards, the hammer did not allow a decent window of opportunity for the enemy to attack. Although, in the confusion of the attack no one except his own enemies took notice of it.

Gaara was faring less fortunate than his previous three companions. He had used a good portion of his blooded sand to protect Haru and Kano, and had to deal with a significantly larger group of the mob. They had deemed him as the leader as he was seen as the most commanding presence and surged onto him like starving locusts. The combat centered on taijutsu, an area that was not his forte, had it been a battle of jutsu his victory would have long passed, even _if_ he was outnumbered by an entire squad of these bandits.

Feeling frustrated at being cornered as he was, Gaara let out a low growl before he extended his arms outward allowing his upper torso to burst open.

Gaara had molded his iron sand to become a flexible body suit of iron. He kept it on mainly to protect himself if by some ungodly intervention that his shield had been breached. But since he had sacrificed his shield for Kano and Haru, he decided that this scenario was just this same. The ninja closest to him was pushed back violently, some crashing into the nearby trees head first, knocking them out of the fight indefinitely. The rest simply got a rough fall, but quickly got themselves' up and ready for another go. Gaara held back a smirk as he readied his armor to float freely around him.

He was now without armor of upper clothing, but it was of no matter, he'll show these peons just what it means to fight on the level of a Kage. With a flick of a wrist Gaara launched a quick tendril to strike at one of the attacker. The other fighter barely managed to get his head out of the way just in time, but if the blood crawling down his cheek meant anything; it was all a matter of luck he still lived.

The other attackers prepped themselves; they would have to be on guard to live through this part of the encounter.

Gaara sent another tendril, this time smaller and faster. It shot like a bullet to the attackers and landed a hit on one of the enemy. His knee shattered from the blow, the system of intertwining ligaments holding his tibia, femur and patella broke from the force of the blow and forced the injured man to cry out and fall to the floor in pain. His nearest comrade quickly reacted and retrieved his fallen friend. He harshly threw a pellet to the ground and forced a cloud of smoke to cover their escape, when the smoke cleared there was no trace of either of the two or the dismembered leg.

Gaara let the fact pass by him, two down seven to go. Three had already engaged him, and he was avoiding arms and legs with huge difficulty. With what concentration he could muster from his predicament, Gaara forced for part of the dome from far away to shoot a sand shuriken to the three on him. He made the mental picture of a giant windmill flying towards him, willing it to come to his aid like a faithful servant.

His ploy worked as a windmill shuriken made of sand forced all three to fall back from Gaara, who was now armed with enough sand to fight back efficiently. Gaara made quick jabbing motions with his fists, and his iron sand responded by moving with unrealistic speed attempting to puncture and slam against his many opponents. His regular sand floated freely around him. Its shapeless form flowed slowly around his upper torso, silently taunting the other group to attack.

One enemy took a chance and attacked Gaara's rear flank, his dagger was at the ready to stab the red-head's exposed back. The blade was only half an inch away when Gaara's blooded sand finally reacted. It had shot straight to the blade and encased the enemy's entire forearm; it took only a second to mold into the captured appendage before compressing violently, causing thousands of pounds of pressure to squish the arm like grape.

-

Tsuyoshi screamed in pain and fell to the floor screaming. Left open to attack, he was unable to raise a defense to Gaara's follow-up attack. It was only by the timely interference of one of brethren that he escaped with his life. He reminded himself to thank Motoko and Keitaro for giving birth to such a fine warrior. Daisuke, it was such a fitting name…now if only he could live up to his own.

When his comrade left him at a branch of a large tree he pointed to the north and had a stern look on his face, Tsuyoshi could only look away with self pity, but still nodded. Daisuke palmed his shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze before turning to fight the red-headed one once again. Tsuyoshi understood that he was now a liability in the battle, but he still felt bitter nonetheless. As he looked back at the still heated battle he grasped what was remaining of his arm tightly and ran as fast as he could. Once he was brought back to his normal self he would be able to fight again.

He just hoped that no one got the red headed one. He wanted to take him down _personally_.

-

Gaara had now reduced the number of his enemies to six, and he was quickly growing agitated that it was taking so long to bring it to zero.

His enemies were not as stupid as the common group of thieves. They have learned from their fallen comrades and were now attacking in groups of three from different directions. He had enough of both his blooded and iron sand to bury everyone around him for several hundred meters, but everyone was too close…he will just end up burying his friends along with his enemies of he tried a large-scale attack. With what sand he could summon for close combat was barely enough to protect him from projectiles and sneak attacks, but he still needed more to fight back harder. And that was the problem.

He had used eighty percent of his blooded sand to protect Kano and Haru and was limited to about forty percent of his iron sand if he didn't wasn't to cause friendly fire. It was not enough to fight the sextuplet around him, he needed to improvise.

Sacrificing his floating sand could and iron sand whips. Gaara willed his iron sand to take form of a spear while he made his blooded sand cover his vital organs. The others took this as a sign of desperation and attacked with reckless abandon, most of them were armed with simple knives or small throwing weapons. None possessed a weapon equal to his iron spear. Gaara thought it would be easy to hold them back until help arrives. But he never got the chance to find out if it was true or not.

As soon as his enemies were in close enough range a yell caught their attention.

It was Naruto's fight. It seems the blonde ninja had taken out one of the enemies with relative ease and was in the process of taking out the second. But a third attacker had gotten in between Naruto and his target, and had attempted to split his head like a watermelon. Luckily for Yoinokuchi the attacker had missed anything vital, except the leather headband on Naruto's forehead. The cloth had fallen to the floor immediately and the two remaining enemies reacted as any other human would to the revealing of a third demonic eye sprouting from Naruto's skull.

The other standing members of Yoinokuchi soon found themselves out of battle as their opponents converged on Naruto. Hinata was predictably the first to act and dashed straight to aid her hidden crush, Kanaye and Mamoru then took their cue to move. But both went in different directions, Kanaye to his brother and Mamoru to the battle. Gaara retreated to the shell he had made for the non-combatants of Yoinokuchi, the crowd ahead was too close together with his own group, his techniques would only get in the way of the fight and hinder his allies' abilities.

Gaara let the shield down as soon as he reached the dome. Kanaye, who had been waiting impatiently, quickly took a look at his little brother, and found that he was the same as before. Kanaye let out a breath of elated disappointment. Haru was still alive, but he would give anything in the world to see him open his yes and smile again.

Gaara took it upon himself to check on Kano. Aside from being startled from the rapidly changing events and feeling apprehensive of what was going on the blue-haired boy was alright.

Gaara turned to look at Kanaye who was still huddled over Haru, the sight triggered a snapshot memory in his mind. He was in the hospital bed just after the Akatsuki attack, and both of his older siblings had come to visit him. Temari was keeping him cool with a small fan that she kept on her at all times while Kankouro was giving him a puppet show with him and his sole student Matsuri as the stars. He remembered that said student had entered his room when Kankouro made the 'Grand Finale', which was really the Gaara-puppet giving the Matsuri-puppet a kiss. She had collapsed then, from heat-stroke if he remembered correctly. But he wondered if that was right, Temari wouldn't stop snickering as he told him her diagnostic. Kankouro didn't help much either, he just ruffled his hair in mock superiority while rubbing fake tears from his face muttering nonsense about him understanding about it one day.

A drowning gurgle of a scream reached Gaara's ears as the picture in his mind shattered and forced him to see what was going on. What he saw made Gaara freeze in amazed shock. One of the enemies had gotten a hit in, and now Naruto was sporting a new breathing hole on his right chest. But what made Gaara still was not the fact his ally had been stabbed; no, rather it was what he had been stabbed with.

The enemy who had been graced by divine intervention had formed a thick red spear made of red liquid. It did not take any kind of genius to recognize the substance. Its coppery smell, pale shine, and site of origin was all-too familiar with the gathered crowd.

Naruto recomposed himself first to get out of his situation. Instead of trying to slip away or break the offending weapon, he jumped deeper into the spear, and thus closer to its wielder. The stunned fool was trapped as the spear of blood tied to reenter his body before the blonde reached him. Naturally, an angered jinchuuriki is a difficult thing to outrun, and this particular prey was just cut below the recommended speed limit of escape. Later on the man's life would be the center of pity as his eternally scarred face was nearly pounded into powder courtesy of Naruto's knuckles.

Naruto's wound healed son after, leaving only rapidly discoloring pink flesh when the wound had finally sealed up. His third eye popped out of its socket and spun around uncontrollably, using its limited ability of movement to taunt and sicken his and the boys foes. He quickly sucked himself in his safe hole when one enemy almost cut him off with a crude dagger of his. Stupid vessel! He should be looking out for things like that!

The enemy wave began their attack anew, and swarmed around Naruto in an attempt to disorient him and take him out during his daze. In their desperate haste to eliminate whatever the hell this boy…this _thing_ was, they had naively forgotten to take to account that his comrades were only a few yards away. Their careless error cost them the battle. In just a span of a few minutes Hinata and Mamoru had taken out two thirds of the remaining enemy force. Naruto was then left but with only four enemies.

Hinata and Mamoru stepped forward to aid their blonde friend, but he had raised his hand and silently asked them to stand back. The other four were in no position to attack. They were now the ones who were outnumbered, and were defeated by what once seemed to them as easy prey. Now they felt as if they were now staring death in the face, or faces as it were. They were cornered, they were desperate, as such Naruto knew, they were a lot more dangerous.

His caution was rewarded when the center right attacker used his dagger to slash both of his palms and drop the soiled knife in a hurry. His hands blurred into motion and chakra escaped his system to the now free flowing blood escaping to the forest air. The attacker's eyes flashed angrily for a second as the technique finally took hold. "Chimame: Sorojutsu!"

Naruto barely moved his head out of the way as the blood from the man's hands gathered itself together and solidified into a spear. He was at first concerned that the battle would grow into an annoyance but shook his head at what he saw next. The enemy took a gamble and tried to kill Naruto from a distance, seeing as how he had lost he was now stuck with two unwieldy sticks glued to his palms in a very enclosed area. He was little more than a legless lamb in the butcher shop now. But even lambs have friends to call upon.

Regardless, it was too late for him now. Naruto punched him so hard that his fist buried the other into the ground. The spearman was now out of the battle.

The other three had taken the first ones example and called upon their blood techniques, but they were wise enough to not make the same mistake and opted for a different tactic than the spear. The second one had called upon kenjutsu and now wielded to swords made of blood. While the other two reverted back to tantojutsu and formed two daggers in their hands.

The one with the swords attacked alone and the other two moved themselves in flanking positions, they would try to overwhelm their opponent by attacking from all sides. That way each would have an opportunity to strike at the target.

Naruto threw three shuriken at the sword wielding one before charging head on with a dagger holder. The maneuver was unexpected and the enemy's plan was sent to complete disarray. Still hoping to salvage the botched tactic, the other dagger wielding enemy lunged at Naruto's rear flank. The sword bearer tried to call out and stop his comrade but he was a second too late. Naruto had hidden a clone under the earth, and it had exploded from the ground just below the enemy still in mid-flight from his jump. The Naruto-clone's head buried deep into the unfortunate fool's gut, his blood-chocked cry of pain was heard with mild pity from the other members of Yoinokuchi.

The body flew high into the sky and landed on top of a nearby branch, sadly the enemy's weight and force was too great for the wooden limb to handle, and the unconscious man fell to the floor flat in his back with a loud 'thump'. With the loss of his consciousness and thus his loss of control the blades of blood imploded on themselves and reverted back to its aqueous form, no one noticed the mans palms slowly seal his self-imposed wound.

Its duty done, the clone disappeared with a blank expression on his face. Naruto jerked for only a second before resuming his assault with his current opponent. When he saw that man's face through his clone's eyes, he had seen that Ryu guy from Grass again. His pale face and defeated position reminded himself all too much how the dead Grass jounin looked like after he had stepped on his neck. He felt himself just give away a little, but only a little.

_(He is not precious to me…)_ Naruto had thought himself._ (I don't have to feel anything for him. So then, why do I feel that I should? Even though I don't?) _

"You fool!"

Naruto spun around and released a small wave of fox fire before leaping high into the air. He should have been paying more attention, if he had let his mind wander for a moment longer he would be going through some serious pain right now. As he looked down to review what was going on, he was shocked to see only one enemy staring right at him with a satisfied smirk. And soon figured out why.

Twin swords of blood had just pierced through both of his lungs.

-

The current state of events was not favorable for Yoinokuchi, that much was expressed deeply by Gaara.

"Shit!" Gaara rushed to Naruto's pre-destined landing spot and reached into the air for the other enemy. He got one of his legs, and with that he pulled the stab-happy attacker away from Naruto's free-falling bleeding body and smashed him into a tree.

Then the floor.

Then the tree again.

And the floor one last time for good measure.

Hinata was already in position for catching her secret beau while Mamoru had dispatched the remaining euphoric enemy with a hard elbow to the back of the head. Humph, bastard was so happy over Naruto's injury that he had forgotten the rest of his surroundings. How amateurish, he might compress him especially slow and painful if this set them back from their goal. A pair of wails distracted him from his foul mood and put him in a lofty mood. Hinata and Kano were sobbing like panicking children. They obviously haven't seen Naruto's healing abilities like he had.

Gaara now fully re-armed with all of his sand, gently grabbed the hysterical Hinata and Kano and shut their mouths with a small handful of sand. He motioned them to quiet down and settled them down on the floor. Mamoru and Kanaye, who had fixed Haru on his back, walked up next to Gaara and focused their eyes on Naruto. Red chakra lined the wounds on Naruto's chest, and shrank in diameter of each passing second. Soon he was whole and healthy once again.

Kano stood amazed at what he had just witnessed, but Hinata took a more direct approach. She sat next to the blonde ninja and settled his head on her lap. She toyed with the idea of playing with his hair when his demonic eye snapped open and leered warningly at her. She gasped, startled by the action before calming herself. This was not Naruto, it was only the Kyuubi.

The Kyuubi.

Hinata had never really thought about it before, mainly because ninety nine percent of all conscious thought was centered on finding her lost Naruto-kun, but she was now looking at the eye of the most feared entity of her home village's entire history. The beast that was said to crush mountains and conjure tsunami's with a just a flick of one of his nine tails was looking _annoyed_ at her. She just noticed how hard how hard it was to breathe all of the sudden, had the air somehow gotten thicker?

Her silent question went unanswered, but there was a reaction at the end of it nonetheless. Naruto had witnessed Hinata's realization of just what he was through the eye of Kyuubi, and he would be lying if he said he knew exactly what to feel at the moment.

He was happy in a grim sadistic way. Hinata now understood what he was entirely. If by some chance she decides to leave the group from fear he wouldn't go after her. If she was afraid of him that meant she would stay away from him. If she stayed away from him she will be safe when the time comes to take Akatsuki head-on. But Naruto could not ignore the fact that a part of him will die if Hinata goes fear him. It had taken years of pain and soul-crushing hard work to get to where he was now. Blood, tears, even chunks of his body have been shed to obtain and preserve everything he had, if another decided he wasn't good enough for them…well he didn't really know what would happen next.

And that scared him.

There was a quick flash of heat as the wound closed off, it was the fox's way of telling him he was done, and that he had gone back deep into his cage. Naruto bit the corner of his sleeve and tore it off from his shirt. He then used the ripped cloth to conceal his third eye once more. Whatever drama that's going to come out of this could wait, some enemies had escaped during the fighting, and he for one did not feel like being stabbed through the his lungs again, twice was enough for one lifetime.

With a grunt and a blush Naruto rose from Hinata's lap and stood shakily for a moment before getting his footing back. He scanned his troop and gave of a look that all understood immediately. 'Let's get out of here'

There was a flash of darkness and then the hurting fallen was finally alone.

-

Cold wet droplets of dirtied water leaked through the layers of Earth from the surface, it slithered and squeezed through coatings of dirt and rock and metal, only to escape into a vast underground cavern to an even deeper system of stratum. It was about to start its journey all over again until its course was interrupted by a moving blackness. It lost its form as the droplet was absorbed by the material it had landed on, only to release into the air and begin its process once again, like it had been doing for the last few million years.

The unintentional target grunted in annoyance as he felt his coat get dripped on again. The cavern was lined with stalagmites and stalactites that had been forming for the last few thousand years, there were even columns showing evidence that at least some of the many formations have joined and made supporting columns for the cave. If anything these cave formations give testament to the isolation this spot gave.

It didn't mean he bore it any better.

He better hoped that all of this crap was worth his time, he had just cashed in enough bounty to keep him going for at least a few years and was about to live off of it when two grudgingly powerful representatives _calmly_ asked him to listen to their proposal. Needless to say he blew them off, and it cost him dearly. So he _graciously_ accepted their proposal after their well played negotiation. But was just a hair away from exploding rage once more.

They got him, of all things, a partner! A time-wasting psycho religious nut no less! First chance he got, he would arrange an unfortunate accident to befall the idiot with an imaginary friend. It shouldn't cost any effort for a person of his _uniqu_e nature.

"Shuhan, we have arrived."

During his mental rant he had hardly noticed that the group had stopped in front the opening of the cave. They had entered through the underground maze of stone through a plant he had never encountered before; it had swallowed all four of them up in a single gulp and had exterminated them into the passage. He would make sure that none would ever speak of the experience ever again, he would not let anyone know that a plant of all things crapped him out of it ass into a hole in a ground.

The shorter of the two envoys had spoken, in that strange dead echo his voice made. The taller of the two was eerily silent, the complete opposite of his smart-ass attitude he showed when they first met. The two seemed too humbled for his comfort, and he was cautious to wonder how this man commanded their respect and loyalty.

"Excellent, you have arrived ahead of schedule. We can move things further along now." His voice was, unique, to say the least. It was raspy, but bellowing. It had the feel of a scholar thirsting for knowledge, but at the same time, strained with manic bloodlust. But of all things it was cold, as if his breath was connected to a frozen hell.

The previous one raised his head in curiosity. It seems there had been recent developments. "Shuhan, what do you mean? Did something happen?"

The other nodded only once. "Yes Itachi-kun, something has happened." He stood up and gave a stretch. "Our little friends are getting into the game, and have made it so much more interesting." Done with his stretching he let his hands drop to his sides. "Katana has died, and Mononoke is recuperating as we speak. She had narrowly escaped the same fate as her partner."

Itachi and his partner, Kisame looked at each other with wary glances. Mononoke and Katana were defeated? By the eight tail? It was possible…but was it at all likely? They knew when those two were paired few could match their combined abilities.

As if sensing their speculation the one simply known as 'Leader' chuckled. "No Itachi-kun, Kisame-kun. They were not defeated by the eight-tales efforts alone. In fact he had quite a bit of help." His head turned upward, trying to pierce his gaze pass the endless amount of stone and dirt above him. "The vessels have united my friends. They already have five to their count, with another on the way. Which is why..." The man finally turned, his lofty expression offset by his cold expressionless orbs. "I need you to take our new compatriots and break them in. There will be a battle up ahead, one to match the gods!"

With that the man disappeared, vanished with a swirl of red. He left no laugh, just uncomfortable silence.

"Well, he's lost it. Heh, I was wondering how long it would take until the pressure finally settled in." The tall one was back to his annoying jabs, he felt a wave of malice rise from next to him. Clearly his new partner felt the same amount of disappointment he felt now. The only difference is that he seemed to express his anger more freely.

"What the FUCK was that all about?! I get dragged around for three days for this SHIT?! You have got to be kidding me!"

Itachi narrowed his eyes only slightly, and then he was in his partners face; his eyes spinning slowly, tauntingly. "Hold your tongue fool, or I will show you why you are so beneath me."

His partner stilled, it was the same as him. When he tried to fight back all the short one had to do was look in at him in the eye, and then…well he couldn't exactly remembered. But the next day he was following the two before him, minus one heart.

The tall one, now known as Kisame, sat down on a conveniently placed rock and let out a groan. "Hey Itachi, quit it. We didn't waste a month looking for these guys just so you can kill them. Besides boss-man said to break these guys in, not break 'em into tiny little pieces."

Itachi did not react at once. He simply stared at the man in front of him. An entire minute passed before he turned around, letting his partner let out a withheld breath, he couldn't blame him. There was something simply odd about the small one…

Kisame smiled when Itachi took a seat opposite of him on another part of the cave, and looked outwardly to the sight the leader was looking at before. "Good, I was afraid I would have to use my suiton jutsu to clean up all the blood, but enough about that. You two, its only common courtesy to introduce yourself to a new friend, tell each other your names."

He narrowed his eyes at the blue-skinned man in front of him. How easy it would have been to call upon one of his hearts and smash the fool with an earth jutsu. But he would play along…for now. He turned to his new partner, and was careful not to reveal any intentions through his voice or eyes.

"My name is Kakuzu"

"Hidan" Was his reply.

For some strange reason that he couldn't fathom, Kakuzu felt as if he was looking straight into a mirror.

-

"Well that was unexpected."

Yoinokuchi had found a small stream a couple kilometers or so away from their previous battle. Hinata said she would be able to find some herbs for some pain killer salves nearby, and had asked Kano and Mamoru to assist her in finding them. Naruto, Gaara, and Kanaye talked amongst themselves about the fight. All were taken off-guard by the attack, one that should not have happened.

"Maybe they were with Akatsuki?" Kanaye offered. "I mean, if they know so much about us then they should know where we were going, right?" He looked at his companions who toyed with the idea before shaking their heads.

"It doesn't add up" Explained Gaara. "We killed both members that took us on, and neither expected us to be there when they came for Mamoru-san. If it was Akatsuki we would probably still be fighting with another pair like the ones in Earth country. No, those people were working under their own agenda, and they weren't simple bandits." Gaara clicked his tongue as he went deeper into thought, and turned his attention on his blonde companion. "What do you think Naruto?"

Naruto frowned thinking about their defeated opponents. What were they after? What did they hope to accomplish? Were they just territorial and attacked them because they trespassed on their land? Or was there ore to it than just that? Questions, questions, how he hated them, they just gave headaches and bad moods.

Naruto took a deep shaky breath and looked at it from a different point of view. Ever since they left the Samurai village they had been traveling at a pace that made a weightless Lee look slow. The medicines and junk the samurai had them swallow took immediate affect and allowed them to hit Waterfall country in record time; they had even taken to the trees to go even faster. That eliminates any possible chance that anyone followed them, the medicines had made sure that they kept a pace that not only was impressive by anyone's standards, but exhausting as well. It was a wonder they had been able to fight back as well as they have.

So if no one followed them; that meant no one knew where they were. At least, one they knew. And as far he was concerned he had not seen any kind of bird fly pass them during their run, so there was no communication between from where they left or the direction they were going to. These guys were people neither he, nor anyone else in Yoinokuchi, ever met before in life. When they attacked they charged head-on with no information about them. Essentially, the group knew absolutely nothing about them and had grossly underestimated their strength. The arrogance in their ignorance was their ultimate downfall as their skills were pitiful to Yoinokuchi's own.

But that still didn't explain the skill they still possessed.

They were weaker than them, that much was sure, but it still wasn't saying much. Very, very few people could match up against a demon vessel, and fewer still could defeat them. But these guys were able to hide from Hinata's Byakkugan, and from what he was able to understand that was impossible. Hinata's blood limit allowed her to see through any physical obstruction or any kind of illusion. But these guys were able to pass through her sight right under their noses! That in itself was enough to ponder about, but the way they fought brought out another topic all together.

The entire group attacked with precise coordination, using a level of teamwork that had him on the defensive for awhile. Diversions, flanking maneuvers, swarming, they used these tactics and more to land several hits on him and his friends. And all of them were traits that your average bandit would not posses, these people were something more…they wee closer…they were ready…they were…

"Waiting"

Gaara and Kanaye snapped their heads to their unspoken leader. He had taken so much time to respond that the two thought he would never speak again, they had used the time to look at Haru. Who had, despite being on the verge of death, calmed their contemplative anxiousness.

"Waiting? Who's waiting?" Mamoru had returned with Hinata and Kano in tow. He had a large amount of dry wood in his arms and had set them down in a pile. Kano and Hinata soon began to work with the gathered herbs and plats. Hinata took a lot of time to detail what needed to be done to Kano. Who listened with the same attentiveness that he had given Haru when he was taught about traps.

Naruto stood and began pacing, his eyes darting this way and that following a mental pattern in his head. "The attack…it was an ambush. They knew we would stop there!" He took a stick from the wood pile and began to draw in the dirt. "I remember Hinata saying that her eyes could see at a limit of three kilometers. If we stopped here" Naruto marked one spot with an 'O'. "Then that means they were here" He measured three feet with his hands and placed an 'X' on the other spot. "It doesn't matter how fast they are, or how sneaky they are. There is no way in hell they would have made that distance, completely surround us, and all appear at the exact same time in the two minutes we were walking."

The rest agreed it was impossible. So how did they do it?

Naruto racked his brain as much as he could. Echoes of memories bounced around in his head ridiculing his inability to catch them. He scratched the floor with the stick, and in his frustration he had made a small pit that went a few inches into the ground. Naruto suddenly stopped his actions to look at the pit, a small seedling had just begun to sprout, and he had just messed up its growth process by accident. He would never have ever known the land was this good if he never scratched off its top layer…in fact, there are many things that would never see the light of day because of the thousands of pounds of dirt and rock burying them.

…

Naruto came to a realization; burying…underground…it was so obvious that he wanted to punch himself in the jaw for not noticing it earlier.

Naruto sighed and used his forefinger and thumb to rub the bridge of his nose. "They were underground." He said at last. "They knew where exactly we would jump from the trees and crawled out of the Earth to ambush us." He took a deep breath and inhaled and felt himself go dull, he looked at Hinata's and Kano's direction. They were fanning the make-shift incense pot that was burning the herbs they had gathered. The smoke it gave off relaxed him. "I remember when I had to go against the byakkugan in a fight that it saw me in every direction I came from. But then I attacked from underground, and won. This is exactly what happened to us."

The rest of the group nodded and accepted the explanation, but there was one thing that had been bothering all of them. But it was Kano who voiced what was swimming in their minds.

"But how did they know where we would get off Naruto-sempai?"

The blonde smirked and signaled Kanaye to get Haru.

"Easy Kano, the same way they knew we were going to stop here."

Suddenly three groups of four jumped from their hiding places and surrounded Yoinokuchi. All fell into stance in preparation for a fight. But it was clear to see that they would not attack without a catalyst.

Naruto stood form his sitting spot and let himself go lax, he told the rest to so the same, they've already left enough of an impression as it was, there was no need for more.

"Well, are the magicians going to tell us the secret behind the trick?"

Naruto's answer was unconsciousness.

-

Drums, he heard drums…and flutes? Yes flutes…they were nice…

What was that smell? It was so strange…but it felt good…he can't remember the last time he felt this good…

He felt a warm liquid slip down hi throat. He coughed and wheezed. That was definitely not good!

"_S**l**_**e**Ep **c**H_i_**L**_D_…

Who was that? Sleep? That was a good idea…sleep was nice…

But…why did he want to wake up?

-

The blonde member of Yoinokuchi woke up to bound limbs, a very painful headache, a scent that threatened to destroy his olfactory organs, and a collection of faces only a dead mother can love.

Naruto scanned the area to get a hold of what was going on, and suffered a series of bone snaps in his neck as he did. Fuck they hurt!

The damn group had got them, and the entire lot was somehow alive and kicking. To the point where they were cheering at their capture, at the very least they weren't cheering proudly. More than half were bandaged around their upper bodies and faces, their forms were so disfigured from their earlier battle that their joyous cheers come out like painful moans.

His own small groan of discomfort did not go unnoticed and he soon felt his head being forcefully pulled back to force him to see what was going on.

Kanaye was being led to an arena-like clearing, and he was being rather…difficult…in every sense of the word. He flailed angrily and struggled as if insane. He sent a lot of guys flying into the trees and sky in his efforts. At one point he fell forward as he was being approached from behind. He then bent his knees and kicked back like a bucking bull, Naruto was sure he heard some bones snap from the attack.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Kanaye was detained by blood ropes and other binding material. Naruto guessed he and the others were trapped in the same stuff too, seeing as no matter how much he struggled against the damn thing he couldn't get loose. He doubted the enemy would try any thing less on their captives.

"It's about time you woke up haystack"

Naruto craned his head upward at the weak insult, he could think of thousands of other names to describe him, but haystack? That was a first. It was even stranger to see who it came from, a young twenty-something girl with a lower face mask hauntingly similar to his former jounin sensei. Was she some kind of wannabe-ninja farm girl or something?

"What wrong with you? Too stupid to speak? Or maybe you're just too stupid in general? Talk Haystack!"

Naruto soon found his eye twitching in annoyance. Okay, so maybe she could shout out some decent insults, he had to give her that. But her tone was really staring to get on his nerves, if she didn't cut the crap soon…

The girl sighed as Naruto narrowed her eyes at her out of frustration. "Fuck, you're just as stupid as the cow over there. He didn't say a word either and it makes more trouble for me." She combed her hand through her hair, making Naruto notice that her hair was a shining silver color that glowed with the moon. "I really don't like to be bothered you know; it gets on my nerves. Then again, that's what being bothered means huh?" she started drumming her fingers on Naruto's skull, intentionally goading him to blurt out angrily. "You're the leader guy right? Everyone else thinks that panda-boy is the top dog of your group, but I know…" She stalked in front of him and leered closely into the blonde's eyes. "That you are the one they follow…Haystack."

Naruto was about to yell at her for being an annoying pest when she placed a finger upon his mouth. "Shush little haystack, you don't want to talk so I don't want to listen." Naruto was about to yell anyway when he noticed he couldn't move his lips. In fact, his entire jaw was locked into place! Just how the hell did she?

The girl's mask scrunched upward, her eyes were closed in mirth as she smiled under the fabric. "Pretty crazy huh? I'm kind of special you know. I can make people do anything I want them to" She stood up and faced Kanaye who was now completely tied to the floor, but completely alone. She looked over her shoulder and gave a cold stare to Naruto. "Every time you refuse to talk I am going to kill one of your guys, this one was being annoying so he's the first to go." The girl got a dagger and split her palm open, allowing a curved sword to form in her palm.

"Let's see how tough you are when it's your buddies that are getting hurt and not you."

-

Kanaye's bonds made no sound as he struggled; instead they shifted their position as he moved, leaving the captured vessel with nothing to concentrate on as he suffered though the scathing comments of his captors. It was nothing different from the things he grew up with when he was still growing up at Grass, but there was something different about these guys. Back home all the crap given to him was done in anger that came from fear, they didn't know how powerful he was and were too afraid to test it.

But these guys, they were confident. They were sure that the shit they spat out was going to be true. All of the shouts of 'Burn in hell f-ing demon! and "Die bastard Die!" were getting more invigorated, more confident, more…ecstatic. It was seriously starting to get to him, what the hell was making them so smug?!

Kanaye gave one final heave form his bonds and a loud roar, he was giving his all to break the bonds, but it didn't seem to be enough. With a frustrated grunt he ricocheted back to the floor as his energy gave out. Kanaye was angry beyond belief, but couldn't even punch the ground because of his bindings. He wished these damned things would just fucking go away; he needed to get back to Haru! You know what? Who cares of these things didn't snap! As long as he could move he's going to try and force his way out. He knew Haru needed him, and come hell or high water, he's going to be there for him.

With renewed strength and fervor, Kanaye let out his loudest battle cry and pushed up. Little by little he could feel the blood ropes give way, he knew this was it. This is his big escape, and those fuckers were going to pay. He just needed a bit more…

Without warning the ropes snapped, or rather, returned to liquid form and fell to the floor with a resounding splash. Kanaye had not expected them to break so early and fell forward in an undignified heap, but at least he was quick to get up.

"That was pretty funny."

Kanaye turned to see who was talking about him, and came face to face with a masked silver-haired girl, who had a pretty huge-looking scimitar made of blood popping out of the palm of her hand.

Kanaye fell into a defensive stance immediately after seeing the weapon and sneered right back at the girl. "Think so? I can think of something funnier."

One of the girl's brows curved up as if mockingly asking 'what?'

Kanaye charged head-first "My fist in your face!" Kanaye threw one of the most devastating punches he had ever conjured in his still short life, and had made a crater that destroyed all of the nearby foundation, causing the people watching the spectacle to fall inside the new man-made hole in the ground. Kanaye withdrew his fist from the dirt with a grunt of effort and snorted angrily. That chick was faster than the other weaklings…he may need to try harder against this one.

Rhythmic clapping hooked the vessels attention behind him, was this girl so arrogant that she passed up a chance to strike him to gloat?

The girl's eyes were closed, further parading her ego. "That was a pretty powerful punch. I don't doubt I'd be permanently out of commission if _that_ landed on me. Congratulations! You actually surpassed my expectations! If you actually care to know; that has only happens once for every few thousand people!" Her tone of voice suggested something of truly honest praise, but before Kanaye could scratch his head in confusion of the girl's actions; her mood did another one-eighty into a mask of menacing tranquility. "Too bad that I have to kill you; it would have been nice to know someone that I couldn't predict"

This time the girl was the one who ran forward with her weapon of choice behind her, her other hand was in front in some kind of seal. Kanaye decided to head her of and attack her before she could swing that giant blood-sword thing in her hand. It only too him a second to get in range of the weapon, and he need one more to get in close, by that time the girl would be wide open and his to beat to the ground.

The girl seemed aware of the situation, seeing as her eyes dart here and there looking for escape. But instead of widening her eyes in surprise or horror, she leapt during her jump. She had easily vaulted over Kanaye's entire height and dragged her blade upwards with her. The initial velocity of both Kanaye's and her own speed had brought them close enough as it was, but combined with the force from her forward leap; the girl was able to cut one of the deepest wounds Kanaye had ever had to suffer through in his life.

Kanaye staggered for several steps before plummeting to the floor, a small tremor signaled his contact with the ground. The blood from Kanaye's wound rushed out of the opening, cascading down the crater. The girl walked to the center of the hole where the jinchuuiki's blood pooled and rested the dull side of her scimitar on her shoulders. "Can you get up now? I know you're in good enough health to keep on fighting." In an effort to speed the boy up she dipped her finger in Kanaye's blood pool and flicked the foreign substance like she would a bug.

The red liquid shot forward in blinding speeds, its intention to pierce straight through the fallen boy's chest cavity and tear a new valve in his heart. When it was only a few centimeters away the girl faltered, this was not supposed to happen! He was supposed to be already up! Was her insight wrong? She clearly _saw_ him get up and continue attacking her!

The bullet landed, and caused Kanaye's body to flinch from the force behind it. If he wasn't dead before, he was now.

The girl who had shot him fell to her knees, shocked at what happened.

-

A few dozen meters away, the awakening members of Yoinokuchi watched the events in a similar manner, albeit with more confusion.

Hinata, who had woken up shortly after unconsciously hearing Naruto's grunts of annoyance gasped horrified at seeing Kanaye-kun apparently die. She could only hope that Haru would be strong enough to live on after this. And that her Naruto-kun would too…he had already lost another friend…and he still had so few…she had never seen him so, blank. It was a rarity that she did not welcome.

In the midst of Hinata's pity party for her beau, she failed to notice the final two members of Yoinokuchi awaken from their forced slumber. Kano seemed to be only half-awake, if his half-open eyes and small stream of drool dripping of his chin was any indication to his alertness. Mamoru however was staring intently at the scene in front of him, and narrowed his eyes sharply. In the very short time he had spent with his new travel companions he had gathered that most, if not all of his troop were shinobi. That included Kanaye.

It is why he remained silent and looked at the battle with a vigilant eye. The blonde leader had shown him and his village that if there is anything that a ninja excels at, it is getting the backs out of the corners their forced into. At his mention of the Naruto, Mamoru took a single glance at his new friend.

He was still, eerily so. He showed no emotion like any trained warrior should, but where his face gave silent announcement of his stoicism, his eyes betrayed his raw passion. His jaw did not move, his mouth did not twitch, but his eyes gave a shine. And for just a second, she saw a spark light up behind them; and, saw, or rather heard the reason.

The girl had fallen to her knees.

-

This wasn't supposed to happen! Not yet! How could she be wrong?! She's never wrong! Could she be wrong about the others too? What about that damn blonde?

She stared at the one she had dubbed Haystack. The little number she pulled on him didn't let her see anything on his face, but the guy's eyes were bright. She knew that if she removed the little hex she gave him, he would be smirking at her.

But why is he doing that? Didn't he just see her kill his friend? Did she actually perform him a service by killing the guy? No…that wasn't right. She saw through the guy inside and out, he cared for the dead man like a brother. He should be devastated, but instead he looks like that she was the one bleeding in a hole in the ground.

A presentation of pictures flashed in her mind, they were going too fast for her to register, but she could see herself fighting…hard. She could see her opponent winning, but then she would try something, and she would be ahead, and then her opponent turned into a…a…

"_Monster…?_" She whispered.

The ground before her began to crack, before being undermined completely from the object that was hidden below. She felt a pain so intense that it actually numbed her entire body for half a second, before exploding like a raging inferno throughout her being.

She landed a few feet away, the blood scimitar that was in her hand had dissipated in the air and fell to the Earth below, showering all those near her in a coppery drizzle of blood. At first the pain was so intense that she couldn't even breathe right, let alone move. It took her a full minute to finally feel up to the tack of standing upright. It took her another until she was able to look at Kanaye in the eye.

Her breath didn't come as quickly as her ability to stand, but she desperately tried to position herself so she would be ready for anything the goliath may throw at her. But to her surprise, he did nothing. He just stood there arms crossed, looking straight at her.

She was getting tired of this silence and broke it with zeal. "Well?! What are you waiting for!? I'm not going anywhere soon!" The girl faltered from where she stood, note to self: yelling while entire body is in pain was a _very_ bad idea.

Kanaye shook his head in a disapproving manner before crossing his legs and sitting on the broken floor. Although he was the one that to turn his head upward to lock eyes, the girl felt that she was the one being looked down on. She hadn't felt this way since she was first caught by one of her elders sneaking in ecchi books into her room.

This did not sit well with her, and she made it known to the…the…_boy_ in front of her.

He just chuckled at her provocations and rested his temple on his knuckles, looking at her as if she was ten years his junior. Despite the fact that she was probably older than him!

After of an eternity of silence within a moment, Kanaye finally answered her questions. "You probably already know, but I'm not that smart" The girl scoffed, as if to say in her own way 'obviously'. Kanaye went on regardless her reaction. "But even I can tell you that when you beat over a hated enemy, you down break down and go to shock right after." The girl stiffened, did he figure out? No…it's too unbelievable for him to consider that option. So what was he getting at?

Kanaye noticed that her breathing was getting more level, even if it was still a bit hastened for his preference. "What I'm trying to say, is that you knew that I was going to be okay…just like you're people know where we would get off from the trees, and where we would stop from after the fight." Kanaye stood and flexed his muscles, the demonic green chakra of the six horned ox leaking from his person. "You seem to know a lot of things before they happen, but only if they're weaker than you. That isn't really normal…for a human." Kanaye's body darkened as he spoke, turning into a dark leathery brown as three solid black horns brimming with demonic energy sprouted from his elbow, shoulder blade, and forehead.

Kanaye snorted as the horn grew out, his body mass doubling in size to accommodate the power that was now flowing within him. He smirked at the girl's expression, and was happily pleased to see it on everyone else's faces except his friends'. He gave one final glare at the girl on front of him and finished his line.

"Then again, how are demon vessels like us supposed to be normal? Neh?"

-

A knock came from the sliding paper door behind the aging leader. The momentary distraction had broken his focus, and the picture in his crystal ball faded into oblivion. Deciding to check on it later, the Hokage called in the people who asked for his assistance. He only hopes that he doesn't miss too much of the epic.

The scroll, now forgotten under the new wave of reports and papers, merely bided its time to be rediscovered. While its creator listened to a story that seemed endless.


	12. Chapter 12: Gasp! Ressurection!

BAM! I dont own Naruto! The guy who patented it does!

**THIS IS TO GET YOUR ATTENTION! READ THE STUFF BELOW FIRST _NOW_!  
**

**THIS IS TO GET YOUR ATTENTION! READ THE STUFF BELOW FIRST _NOW_!**

**THIS IS TO GET YOUR ATTENTION! READ THE STUFF BELOW FIRST _NOW_!**

**THIS IS TO GET YOUR ATTENTION! READ THE STUFF BELOW FIRST _NOW_!**

**THIS IS TO GET YOUR ATTENTION! READ THE STUFF BELOW FIRST _NOW_!**

**THIS IS TO GET YOUR ATTENTION! READ THE STUFF BELOW FIRST _NOW_!**

Well...lookie here. People. I still have people to read this? Nice.

Well, pleasantries aside I believe I owe you all an explanation. An actual one, not the 'zomg 4-reelz i likez got likez kidnapped by E.T and his homies yo!' shit. The truth is o got over my head, and failed. Quite spectacularly might I add. You see, i have never been one to lack confidence towards people i have never met before nor will never meet. I know i can lie and lie and lie and they would never be any the wiser. The only thing I really have to worry about is keeping the lies together. So for all you know i can be a freaky little nerd with ten million pictures of various anime series taking up 99.99999 of my living space, or I could be some closet fetishist with a very sick mind. (Hint: One of the descriptions are ambiguously close to the truth. Guess which one! Its like a T/F test 50-50 chance of pass or fail) you'll never really know, and I sort of harvest confidence that I'm in full control of the situation of how much you know about me or not. Because regardless of your l33t h4x0r 5li11z or marvelously developed prodigy level intellect, (if you have either/or of course) You can never get inside whats locked up inside the warped little safe house that is my mind. Yeah I know, my ego is charming, neh?

Now that confidence is what led me to make a very, _very_, _**very**_ stupid mistake. I thought, hey...I'm awesome, I could handle stuff if it came at me. i'm prepared, my mama and pops didn't raise me to be no fool. I'm ready, bring it on baby-cakes.

What came can only be described as what one my friends eloquently puts as an "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPIIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCCCC FFFFFFFAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLL!"

An what a fail it was.

Needless to say i was steamrolled by life with a howitzer and pile-drived to the world by the Hulk Hogan of reality. Yeah, it wasn't pleasant.

I ended up failing a class, lost a chance to get a job, had a relative die (By natural means not by my fail), and ended up in a funky-ass mood that was so not...moi. The pity I had for myself was astounding, but amazingly enough i was still writing.

And before you get ahead of yourself, it was not this story. I was writing other things, snippets here and there really, you could find haikus with better word count. But it kept my mind busy, and i adapted (slowly to my dismay). I had actually developed a completely a whole new story, one semi-based on a future project from another author but the name escapes me. I wont reveal anything yet, but youll see little previews soon enough, I'll go through with it regardless of response. Because I feel like i need to. Emotions and all y'know?

My recovery was surprise to myself, cause i had felt sort of numb for a while. But life doesn't stop, so I didn't either. And that was cool, I felt proud of myself for that.

ANYWAY! Backt ot the matter at hand. You'll come to realize that this is not a new chapter, Now hold on now don't pull the weapons out yet, I know you've all been wanting and waiting. (-See! Ego!) But this is important. Remember the new story and little snippets I mentioned? Well...they were like beta stuff, I've learned some new writing techniques and improved my vocab some (though not impressively so). And i brought it over to this story. It was a small project thing at first, but then it grew like a weed in my mind. I revamped the story, big-time, and the new canon (Which I'm still catching up on, Itachi good? WTF is up with that? I liked him better as an evil F-tard) mixed it up a bit. This is the first chapter revamped, not the prologue thing, the chapter after that. If you could somehow bring up the patience and compare the two I'll make the decision to make this thing one of the best damn stories on , or keep it as the mediocre 99 cent booklet it is now.

The future of this thing lies in all of your hands...as does my schedule, choose wisely.

...

Or just flip a coin, thats what I did! Half of one hundred chance! (- Ignore shameless self advertising)

Okay, this time I'm going. laters

**THIS IS TO GET YOUR ATTENTION! READ THE STUFF ABOVE FIRST _NOW_!**

**THIS IS TO GET YOUR ATTENTION! READ THE STUFF ABOVE FIRST _NOW_!**

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**THIS IS TO GET YOUR ATTENTION! READ THE STUFF ABOVE FIRST _NOW_!**

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**THIS IS TO GET YOUR ATTENTION! READ THE STUFF BELOW FIRST _NOW_!**

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The Visitor was waiting in the spot that Rai told him to wait

You know your day is gonna suck when the first thing you notice in the morning is bird crap on your face.

That was pretty much his morning in a nutshell. After drowning himself in cheap alcohol (A favorite hobby of his which was kind of hypocritical to his personality) he had lost hold of his sake-warped consciousness in an ocean of grass with stone islands. At first he only brought half a dozen bottles to reminisce with the old coot but went ahead to buy another dozen or so when he found Old man Ichiraku hanging around the same place.

It was fun…catching up. Even it was to a rock.

Getting pooped on by the air-rats where another thing entirely. What time was it anyway? It was waaaaaay too bright for his condition.

A dong was his answer and a groan was his response. It seemed anti-hangover goodness was going to have to wait…shit. Why weren't teachers meaner like they were in his day and kept the students in class after school for no reason?! Where was the love for the ones who didn't want to deal with nail-on-chalkboard voices screaming like schoolgirls on high? Huh? Where was it?!

A longer and louder dong hit his eardrums like an Akimichi hit a buffet. That was a pretty solid answer on its own.

Crap. Might as well get up and get to it, the sooner he got this thing over with the sooner he could make himself blackout again.

-

In the few minutes after the second bell rang, dozens of shinobi hopefuls and Rai took the same positions they had yesterday. The stranger arrived only just after the last kid arrived and he took his spot next to Rai. The stranger noticed a few more in the crowd this time, older active shinobi were sitting in the branches of the nearby trees or in their shade. And none were paying attention to Rai.

He gave off a smile at that, and Rai took it as his cue to start the tale. The stranger could only pray it wasn't too long.

The bell rang louder again.

Okay that's just not plain fair. It hasn't been an hour yet!

A final bell rang, and this one was loud enough for him to feel it in his chest.

'_Fine'_ He thought. _'I'll be good'_

Oblivious to both the bell and to his friend's pain, Rai began his tale.

-

Naruto knew it was gonna be a good day today. The clear weather today let the sun rays glow upon him with a comforting warmth he hadn't experienced since he left three years ago, the smell of countless pots of noodle goodness threatened to take over his senses, _and_ the gambling hag was too angry to assign him a mission today so he was free to do what ever he wanted. He had the entire day to enjoy noodle-ly perfection at old man Teuchi's place.

Where ramen was concerned, Naruto could find no wrong.

He let out a whoop as he ran across the rooftops of his home village, watching the world blur by and meld into one picture that he had become all-too familiar with. Naruto had run through this particular pass in the times he was being chased by punk shinobi, angry chunnin, Iruka-sensei, Anbu, the Konoha military police, his friends, teammates, and even by the hokage! Oh and the pervert-hemit too he guessed. Now that he thought about it, almost the entire village had chased him through this way at one point or another.

Heh, and they never caught him once! Well, except Iruka-sensei that is…

Thinking about everyone made him think back to the time they all caught up soon after the mission with Gaara-san and the Akatsuki. It was almost immediately right after they had the gates actually. Shikamaru's team was waiting along with Kiba and his monster dog for them to return. Hinata and Shino were there too, but he guessed Hinata was mostly there because of Neji, _and_ he really didn't even recognize Shino until everyone told him outright who he was. But it wasn't his fault! How the hell did they expect him to recognize the guy when he wore more clothes than a shopping district had for sale?!

At least they only changed on the outside. He didn't know how to take it if they changed just as much in the inside too. He found out on the trip back that Neji was still a stuck-up bastard, only this time he was a stuck-up bastard with a nicer attitude (did that make any sense?); Tenten was still pretty cool with all of her weapons and he couldn't wait to see what it would be like if he went one to one with her; Lee was still…well, Lee; Sakura-chan was still mean and pretty (but he knew that would never change) and had even become Ino's sempai! Ino didn't seem to like that but she was starting to look really nice, really, really nice; Shikamaru was still a lazy bastard and still said troublesome a lot, but he did kick him when he said Ino was starting to look really nice (Sakura-chan upper-cutted him); and Chouji was still fat. (He was at least smart enough to not point that out at least)

Kiba's team looked like they changed the most; dog-breath actually looked like he grew up and Shino changed so much on the outside that he didn't recognize him at all! (Literally, how can anyone recognize the guy after that kind of change?!) Even Hinata-san changed! Her hair looked nice when it was long like that, he even told her so. But when he did she went red and fainted, and Sakura punched him again; but this time it was in his gut. Maybe he did deserve that, but he didn't mean to make Hinata-san faint!

Muttering about scary tempers and how bad an influence the Hokage was to his Sakura-chan, Naruto entered his favorite ramen stand to eat and slurp away his bad mood. There wasn't anything a hot bowl of ramen couldn't fix!

-

The sky that was once a bright blue spectacle had evolved into an array of assorted reds, yellows, purples, and orange. The village was getting ready for the night, with some heading for bed and some barely getting out. The village was a whole new place under the blanket of the night sky; even more so to one person in particular.

"Stupid nephews, ruining perfectly good ramen like that. I should go kick their asses! And they made Ayame-nee go away too…"

It had already been a few hours since his departure form Teuchi-jiisan's place. He had overcome the shock of Ayame's departure pretty quick when a hot bowl was put in front of him, but what he could stand by and let alone was Teuchi-jii's new 'help'. Those two incompetent bastards better not ruin another bowl of ramen like that again or he'll really show 'em what a shinobi could do. Hot boiling water should not be tossed around so carelessly! Especially if it was ramen!

Naruto growled in his throat, he felt stressed and needed to cool down. Training wasn't gonna help any since he was too pissed off to concentrate and there was no way he was going back to deal with the twin idiots. He doubted any of his friends were free either, and all of his teachers were too perverted to hang out with…guess it's gonna be another lonely night.

_(Damn this sucks, and on my first day back too)_ It wasn't like he wasn't used to it, but the pervert never gave him a second of private time in entire time they were traveling and training. It was kind of comforting; in the most twisted sense of the word.

Meh, he didn't need to have someone with him all the time. Not right now at least. He could last until tomorrow, and he knew the perfect place to wait.

Naruto gave a fond smile to no one in particular before vanishing at the setting of the sun.

-

Naruto stared at the site below him, Konoha was shining in all of is glory in the night. This was one of his more favorite places in his home. He could see the entire village from where he was; from the really classy clan houses that gave Konoha its power, to the small no-name villagers that gave it its spirit. He used to come up here all the time when he was in the academy and just looked at the village, he didn't know why, but he always felt better here.

Maybe it was the company.

"But it's not like you guys can talk neh?"

The stone faces of the Hokage monument were silent as always, but a small stone had chipped off the forehead of the Fifth the moment he spoke. Naruto yielded to it.

"Okay ONE of you can, but sometimes I wished you didn't. You can be really annoying sometimes you know that?"

Another chip fell, along with some dust, only this time it had come out of the fifth's nose giving the illusion that the stone face was sneezing.

"Heh, don't tell me you sneezed because I was talking about you? Ha, stupid face! You're not supposed know when someone is talking about you when you sneeze! At least that's how I think it goes…"

There was no response this time, and Naruto felt kind of stupid thinking that a carved cliff face was actually talking back to him. Maybe he did need some company after all.

As Naruto mulled about his apparent loneliness, his small depression blocked all of his senses to the danger sneaking up behind him.

-

Tsunade sighed at her office as she went over paperwork and signed or rejected the various slips of hell. It was all that stupid brats fault! Him and that stupid grin of his! Honestly, barging into the Hokages office in the middle of the day just so he could catch up on what's been happening. And then when she gets a warm and loving he drops the ball and brings up her age! Her knuckles haven't had a good punch like that in almost three years! Tsunade smiled; maybe the brat was good for something after all.

Too bad she couldn't just puch these papers away like she did with that idiot. She would love nothing more than to do that but the paper came with the job; and she promised the brat she would do her best as the Hokage. Tsunade cracked her knuckles at the thought of the brat again. A promise was a promise.

But she was _really_ looking forward to the party outside. She heard they brought imported sake from Rice Field country. There was no way in hell she'll let the night pass without getting some of the good stuff. Heavens above knows she needs it. She almost wished the brat and the old pervert didn't come back today, they proved to be too much of a distraction.

…

Why did they come back now of all times anyway? Jiraiya should have known better than that, and why did Naruto relent? She would have thought that he would be moody these days. But it seems as if he has just adapted so much that he just ignored it now. Maybe he forgot? No…that's not possible. How does one forget their own birthday anyway?

The lady Hokage's thoughts were cut off as she heard fireworks outside. The Plays were beginning soon, she had better hurry up and finish this crap.

It wasn't all that long until she got to the last batch (Relaxation was a powerful motivator); they were all vacation notices. Tsunade gave off another annoyed sigh, she hated it when shinobi went on vacation, especially since they had just barely recovered from the Sand-Sound attack two and half years previous, it just made all that harder who to choose for the next batch of missions. She could just ignore them…but then Shizune would make a huge fit over it, not to mention that she would have even more work to look over tomorrow.

Tsunade carelessly approved the vacation papers by stamping the Hokage seal on them; there was no real importance in reading into them. The stamp itself was simply used to insure the administrators that she had actually taken the time to glance at the papers; and to make it official that the shinobi present on the papers would not be disturbed unless it was an order from the Hokage herself.

While stamping the papers in a quick and ignorant fashion she had completely missed the fact that some of the vacationing shinobi were known of being Anti-Kyuubi extremist…and had been known for being repeatedly sent to jail in numerous circumstances.

-

(Snap!)

The sound triggered Naruto's reflexes as he pulled out a kunai from his left leg pouch and threw it into the woods in the direction of the sound. There was only a dull 'thunk' of metal hitting wood; at least his enemies weren't stupid enough to let themselves get hit so easily. But who in the hell would be attacking him now? Akatsuki couldn't have found out his location already right?

Naruto's thoughts were literally cut short as a volley of shuriken shot out from the forest. Using a squad of shadow clones as meat shields he threw a smoke bomb on the floor and dug underground. A gust of wind brushed over the smoke and revealed a single team of four ninja. One of the four inspected the burrow and laid a palm on the Earth; he felt vibrations distancing from their position do north, away from the village. Suddenly they stopped, and shorter light vibrations took the place of the louder longer ones; that meant the thing had resurfaced.

He signaled his comrades what he found and they all took off in a sprint. The vibrations had stopped not too far away from their position. Maybe the thing wasn't well-versed in Earth techniques, or maybe it _wanted_ to fight them. If it was the latter then it was foolish. Challenging a fully prepared team of four elite ninja head-on was suicidal, even for a demon vessel.

The destination was barren when they arrived, it was obvious that the thing had resurfaced here but where in the hell did he go? A snapped twig from behind was an answer and the entire team sent a volley of various short blades flying to the sound. They hit their mark but missed their target. A small explosion of smoke and the revealed nothingness told the group they had struck the things favored shadow clone technique. It seems it was at least wise enough to use diversionary tactics. Maybe this wouldn't be such a boorish hunt after all?

A second snap of a twig raised their alarms once more and they group turned to see a hail of shuriken and kunais flying at them. One of the group, an Earth-technique specialist; slammed a fist on the floor and summoned a wall of stone to rise from the ground. The weapons hit the wall and the team relaxed, the attack was a failure. The thing may be clever, but it was incredibly clumsy to signal his attack beforehand.

Another attack from behind told the team that they were being attacked again, but this time was forewarned by a whistling sound that specially-made throwing knives made as they streaked towards them. They of course, dodged them easily. But why was the cursed thing making these rookie mistakes? Even low level ninja knew better than to make noise when attacking…

An explosion from behind blew them from their standing point and peppered them with stone shrapnel. The wall had fallen, but when did the damn beast have a chance to plant explosives? Where the whistling knives wrapped with explosion notes? No…there were too few and most were deflected by their own hands. Did the fist volley have them? But why didn't they hear the notes burning? Were the whistling knives just used to distract their ears? If everything was done for just this moment then where the hell is the demon?

The floor erupted with dozens of bodies as the demon and its clones pounced on the disoriented ninja and held them in submissive holds. The demon didn't bother using blades; probably used them all up in his attack; instead he held a spiraling orb of chakra close to their faces. It was oddly beautiful one of the fallen ninja mused, but he was more than cautious of the glowing ball. He had heard stories of this thing. One was that it was a technique that could kill a sannin in one blow.

The enemy struggled if only for a bit. The kid wasn't strong, but there were enough of his clones that it held them down pretty good. Even if they were able to overpower the kid they still had to worry about the clones with the ball in their hands. Shit! How in the hell could it have come to this? At least they had back-up…

Naruto started to find him self getting really pissed off. It wasn't the fact that he was attacked, life a shinobi and all that, but it was more of the fact that these four idiots didn't take him seriously. Sure he was still 16, but he didn't earn this forehead protector for nothing! They didn't even flinch when he shoved the damn ransengan in their faces! What the hell was all that training for if he couldn't scare off a bunch idiots like these?! Was he really not that intimidating? Well, he'll show them! Damn idiots won't know what hit them!

A punch broke Naruto's inner rant as he flew across the forest floor. His body skidded the floor a couple times before making a rough landing in some tree. How did the bastard know he was the real one? Maybe it was just a lucky shot…No way, that was a one in a million chance. A 'good' shinobi don't take those kinds of gambles. Only the insane ones do.

Naruto shook his head to clear his vision and saw the eight ninja standing before him; wait a sec-eight?! How the hell was he supposed to defend against that?! He wasn't sure if he could handle just four! Damn, best to fall back and try to figure this out…

The eight ninja prepared themselves as Naruto reached him left leg pouch for a weapon, and weren't completely caught off-guard when it turned out to be smoke bombs to cover his escape. The Earth specialist confirmed there were no vibrations on or under the surface. That meant he went up on the branches. Is it possible the demon was attuned to wind techniques? It would explain why the demon chose to run up the trees. More air meant more power. Then again, the chances of finding wind-adept ninja in the country of fire were nearly non-existent. He probably went up to cover the most amount of ground in the time he had; most likely trying to find some help.

As if any right-minded soul would rescue a demon.

One of the eight members slammed a palm on the floor and summoned a bird of prey; a falcon, for speed. The bird soared and circled the air for about a minute before swooping back down and whispering into his beckoner's ear. The man nodded and falcon took its leave in the small explosion of smoke that all summons do. The man pointed in a general direction towards the village. They had little time. If their attack was compromised they would have to face the wrath of the thing's coddlers. They doubted they would be able to kill him then.

It took at least five minutes to get to the village from where they stood, and he had a 1.5 minute start. They had little time indeed, if they were alone.

Good thing they thought ahead.

-

The leader of the eight used his earpiece to tell the rest of the force of the intentions of the demon. They had about a minute to get there and get ready.

They were all set thirty seconds later.

Getting the green signal from the second group, the eight attackers kicked up their speed to chase their quarry into the trap. Naturally ,they succeeded.

Little by little the beast was getting careless. More broken twigs littered the think branches of the trees, footprints were becoming all the easier to see, and the demon's breathes were getting just a touch louder. It was getting sloppy, and when something gets sloppy, it gets stupid.

Stupidity is such a helpful trait.

It wasn't long before the trap was sprung. The demon was fast, they'll give it that. But no amount of speed in the world would save it from their justice.

The final squad of four had set up a net, simple yet effective. He even voiced it out so. The other four claimed it was the only way to cover such a large area with so little preparation. They had no time to create something more elaborate. He nodded to that, knowing it was true. But he could not help but feel it was all too merciful. He only wished there more life threatening elements in the trap.

Bah! The beast was caught, it would suffer now.

The leader of the attack was the first to walk up to the beast. It had stopped struggling when it finally realized it was perfectly snared into the net, but it still dared to spitefully glare at its superiors. Such insolence would not go unpunished.

Their commander, who was the leader of his four-man group, dragged the demon up to his feet by his hair. He gave it a firm punch to the stomach to get it to stop struggling. He felt such joy to see the beast in such pain. It had almost brought tears to his eyes.

The bloody hack it let out would most likely disgust most, but this is a certain occasion where the audience was pleasured by it. Morale soared as they witnessed the demons suffering. Let it bleed! Bleed like the wounds it made on their dead! Bleed like the holes in their hearts! Bleed like the tears wept over the years!

They were slowly losing what little scraps of sanity they had left. The euphoria of victory has left them careless and unguarded, and thus vulnerable. They did not notice the fact that no matter how many time they struck a blow their target did not cry, nor did they notice the grass wilting under his coat as small red bubbles began to form out of nothing around the vessel. Maybe they did notice, but did not care. It was simply the demons blood to them, so twisted and evil that the Earth itself hated it.

Naruto, however, did notice. And the realization made him freeze in fear.

His body shook violently, erratic spasms shaking off thee stunned attackers as they witnessed the demon convulse and groan.

Naruto wanted to yell at them, warn them, anything! These guys may be bastards, but even they didn't deserve the fox. He yelled as hard as he could, but his normally strong voice was cut as the red chakra poured into his mouth; choking him slowly.

His surroundings were turning red. That was the sign that it was too late. _(Damn…it…) _Thought Naruto.

_(Damn it to HELL!)_

-

Somewhere far away, a mysterious figure started to smile. He liked it when plans went without problems. If things kept running smoothly, he should have the fox out of his den in mere hours.

-

The drop was becoming familiar to him now. And it sickened him. How many times had he to turn to the fox? Just because he was too weak?

(One too many) He thought as he landed. The mental liquid of the sewer maze bathed him in a foul stink, and shook as if afraid when _it_ decided to make an appearance.

**KUKUKU…WHAT'S THIS? AH, SO THE PRODIGAL WEAKLING HAS RETURNED! YOU FLATTER ME **_**HUMAN**_**, I DID NOT THINK YOU CARED. BUT ALL THESE VISITS YOU MAKE TEMPT ME TO WONDER OTHERWISE.**

Damn, fox. It just can't stop from stroking its own ego can it? "Shut up damn shit head, in case you haven't noticed I don't have time to deal with you today"

**OH YOU WOUND ME SO LITTLE CHILD! BUT, IF MEMORY SERVES RIGHT, THERE WERE OTHER TIMES WHERE MY ASSISSTANCE HAS 'RELIEVED' YOU OF CURRENT SITUATIONS…**

Damn that bastard fox; sitting there with its stupid smug grin of its. "Shut up, just send me back demon" He hoped the fucking thing would listen, he really didn't have time to mess around

**WE REALLY SHOULD WORK ON YOUR CONVERSATION SKILLS CHILD. SOME BETTER MANNERRSIMS COULDN'T HURT EITHER.**

Mannerisms? If that wasn't hypocrisy then he didn't what the word meant. "If I ever need a rundown on how to behave at the table you'll be the first maniacal demonic entity I'll ask for advice, _I promise_" He clicked his tongue after that, he almost tasted his own sarcasm there.

**YOUR IMPUDENCE WILL BE YOUR UNDOING HUMAN, MARK MY WORDS**

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, think them marked" Hmm, those ANBU guys sure are taking their sweet time killing him.

**DO NOT WORRY WHELP. THE WEAKLINGS WILL HAVE TROUBLE BREAKING THE DEFENSES I HAVE MADE AROUND US. WE HAVE **_**PLENTY**_** OF TIME TO TALK**

Naruto's annoyed face made it self scarce, and one that could only be described as 'Say what?' took its place.

**DO NOT LOOK SO SURPRISED CHILD. YOU AND I ARE FOREVER TETHERED TO ONE ANOTHER WITH THIS ACCURSSED SEAL. IF YOU DIE, I WILL DIE. IT IS A CERTAIN FACET OF TRUTH THAT I HAVE COME TO GREATLY LOATHE, BUT ACCEPT NONETHELESS.**

Was it him or did the great nine-tailed demon fox that had destroyed more lives than there are stars in the sky just sound, defeated? And how the hell did it know what he was thinking!?

**HOW CAN I NOT KNOW WHAT YOU THINK CHILD? I AM SEALED WITHIN YOU. I AM INSIDE YOUR MIND, BONDED TO YOUR VERY SOUL. I SEE ALL YOU SEE, FEEL ALL YOU FEEL, AND KNOW ALL THAT YOU THINK. YOU CAN SAY THAT WE ARE LIKE FAMILY. I KNOW YOU OH SO WELL.**

Oooh no, he just not did say that. "Shut the hell up!" Naruto stood aggressively towards the fox, taking a step forward and shaking his fist infused with the hatred he felt. Occasionally a small muscle spasm would overtake a small part of him, a shoulder or brow, as if Naruto's own body was afraid of itself. "You are nothing like my family! You'll never be like family! And there is no way in fucking hell I'll ever accept you as family! So just shove up your ass you bastard fox!"

The fox, who would normally be furiously attacking his cage, could only chuckle at the outburst.

**MY, MY, SUCH ANGER! I HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH STRONG EMOTION IN A **_**HUMAN**_**. BUT THEN AGAIN, YOU AREN'T COMPLETELY **_**HUMAN**_** NOW ARE YOU?**

Naruto's scowl did not go away, but lessened just a bit from the confusion he felt when he heard that. What was the fox talking about?

**COME NOW CHILD. THINK ABOUT IT! YOUR REGENERATION CAPABILITIES, YOUR CHAKRA CAPACITY, YOUR CLAWS AND FANGS, EVEN YOUR DISTASTE FOR VEGATBLES FOR YOUR PREFERANCE OF MEAT. YOU DID NOT REALLY THINK THAT YOU ARE JUST SOME 'SPECIAL' **_**HUMAN**_** DID YOU?**

Naruto's confused stare was the only confirmation the demon needed.

**OH HOW BLISSFUL IGNORANCE IS! I LOVE TO BURST YOUR LITTLE SECURITY BUBBLE CHILD SO I WILL TELL YOU THIS: THE TRUTH IS…**

The Demon lowered his head to meet the humans gaze and leaned forward so his nose touched the bars

**WE SHARE A LOT MORE THAN JUST THIS ACCURSED SEAL. IN FACT, YOU CAN SAY WE ARE BLOOD RELATED…**

Naruto stilled, his voice became cold and unfeeling. "I'm not laughing fox"

**AS YOU SHOULD NOT BE. I AM NOT JOKING **_**HUMAN**_**. I RARELY JOKE.**

The tone was serious, deathly so, emphasis on death. Kyuubi knew something about him that he didn't like, and while usually that was a good thing; his gut said something else. He knew from experience that his instincts were never wrong; _never._

"So what does it mean, I start calling you nii-chan and ask you to help me with my homework? Or do we just sit here and let my body get obliterated? Oh wait! Here's and idea! You let me go so I can make sure we survive!"

The demon roared at the blonde's insolence, what a fool this child was! To think that he had any right to lecture the mighty Kyuubi! Another roar followed the first, and the once proudly arrogant _human_ child was now humbled by the might of the nine-tail's voice.

**LISTEN TO ME NOW AND LISTEN WELL **_**HUMAN**_**. THERE IS VERY LITTLE I COULD DO TO STOP THE PROCESS BUT IT IS INEVITABLE. JUST SO YOU CAN SHUT UP I'LL TELL YOU WHATS HAPPENING INSIDE YOU.**

Naruto stood weakly on his wobbly legs and listened. The very force of Kyuubi's voice had knocked him down flat on his ass. The second one was strong enough so the rumbling in his chest traveled throughout his body. The sense of vertigo was almost choking.

**THE SEAL IS WEAKENING, SOMETHING BOTH YOU AND I ARE WELL AWARE OF. IT WOULD BE SUCH A WONDERFUL THING; IF THE OTHER ACTIONS IT TAKES WERE NOT AS…TASTEFUL.**

The Kyuubi sat straight up and looked down at Naruto with hatred and contempt. The fact that the beast saw the boy as something smaller than what most humans consider mice was a testament to the height his frame achieved.

**THE SEAL IS MOVING BOY, BRINGING OUR TWO BEINGS TOGETHER; OUR TWO DIFFERENT IDENTITIES TOGETHER. IT IS BLENDING US TO A SINGLE BEING. IN A SENSE, WE WILL CEASE TO EXIST. NEITHER YOU NOR I WILL SURVIVE IT. INSTEAD A VERY MUCH NEW PERSON WILL TAKE BOTH OUR PLACES, THE SUM OF US TWO IF YOU WILL. PERSONALLY, I DO NOT LIKE THE IDEA OF NOT EXISTING, AND I COMPLETELY ABHOR THE THOUGHT OF BECOMING ANYTHING WITH SEMBLANCE TO **_**HUMANITY**_**. SO I ASK YOU THIS. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF IT?**

Naruto thought about it. Becoming one with a near omnipotent demonic entity did not really sound good, especially if you were sacrificed in the processes. How can this be happening anyway!? The f-ing seal should be absolutely unbreakable! It had to be!

But it wasn't. That was the reality he had to face with the perverted old man, and facing again now. But what could he do about it? He didn't know jack shit about seals.

**EASILY REMEDIED CHILD, MY EXPANSIVE KNOWLEDGE COVERS ALL CORNERS OF THE WORLD. THERE IS LITTLE OF YOUR **_**HUMAN**_** WORLD I DO NOT KNOW.**

Annoyed that the fox had read his mind again, Naruto growled at the demon. "And you really think I'll let you mess with the seal any way that you like?" The look on Naruto's face made him define 'disbelieving'. "Give me some credit stupid fox, I'm not that dense."

**HEH, IT SEEMS YOU DO NOT NEED MY HELP TO INSULT YOU HUMAN. BUT NO, I DID NOT BELIEVE YOU WOULD. NOR IS IT POSSIBLE. REMEMBER FOOL, THE SEAL WORKS BOTH WAYS AT ANY GIVEN TIME. WHETHER YOU BELIEVE ME OR NOT I ****HAVE**** TO USE YOU TO FIND AN END TO THIS.**

Naruto crossed his arms and rose and eyebrow. He was listening.

The fox smiled.

-

"Hokage-sama, are you alright? You look pale."

Tsunade of the legendary three spared a glance to her second pupil. Truthfully, she _had_ felt a cold touch fall down her spine, but she will not tell her student of this. Today was supposed to be a celebration for the village.

"I am fine Sakura. It's just the lack of sake in me. It has been too long since I had some of the good stuff"

Sakura rolled her eyes at the comment. Leave it to the Hokage to say something like that. "Right, I see Ino and the others. Are you sure you're gonna be alright?"

Tsunade couldn't help it, she laughed. "Sakura, I'm in the middle of the village surrounded by elite ninja and ANBU black ops watching for any danger that might be near. I'm the freakin _Hokage_ for heavens sake. I'm sure I'll be alright."

Sakura gave the woman a look but left anyway. Both Ino's and her squeals can be heard as they caught up with each other, it really had been too long.

Tsunade smiled as she saw the two friends hug and gossip. It reminded her of better days, and it helped her keep what little faith she had for the village.

"She seems to be enjoying herself"

Tsunade didn't need to turn to know who spoke. "I remember when you were like that, when I first took you as an apprentice. But instead it was all 'Yes Sensei!' 'How fast sensei?' Or 'Can I come too sensei?'" Tsunade smiled fondly at those memories. They were pleasant now. Compared to others she had. Shizune really had been too clingy when she was younger. "Just like a little leech. You never did learn when to let go."

Shizune blushed at the leech comment, but felt no regret for her past actions. "Can you blame me?"

Tsunade didn't really need to think about it. "No…I really can't"

Shizune smiled, but let the topic go. "Neh, lady Hokage, look at what they have over there! A sake drinking contest! Want to give it a try?" She had overheard what Sakura talking to sensei, and hoped to put her at ease. Besides, she always spilled what was wrong after a dozen bottles or so.

The child-like glint of delight that Tsunade gave off was also reward in its own right. "You're too good to me Shizune"

Shizune gave a true smile. "I try"

But even as Shizune led the lady Hokage to the wonderful act of binge drinking for glory, Tsunade could not shake the coldness running down her spine. Something was going to happen, and it's going to be bad.

-

"So, let's hear it bastard. What do you got in mind?"

Had it been any other topic he would have raised an uproar from such insolence. But he had learned to weather this buffoon as best as he could, and this situation called for a calm mind. He would not allow this child get the better of him.

**THE SOLUTION, WHILE SIMPLE, IS FAR TOO COMPLEX FOR YOUR WEAK FLESHY LITTLE ORGAN TO UNDERSTAND SO I WILL TRY TO KEEP IT TO YOUR PITIFUL**_** HUMAN **_**STANDARDS.**

Naruto rolled his eyes at the insult. "I'm amazed, you actually felt sorry there. Should I feel comforted?"

Kyuubi glared and rumbled a growl that shook the mental sewers around them, but did nor said nothing else.

**THINK OF OUR SITUATION AS AN HOURGLASS, ONLY INSTEAD OF ONE SIDE FILLING THE OTHER, BOTH ENDS ARE FLOWING TO AN UNSEEN CENTER. THIS MIDDLE JAR IN BETWEEN THE TWO ENDS IS WHAT CHURNS ARE TWO DIFFERENT ESSENCES TO A COMPLETELY NEW ONE.**

Naruto kept silent, paying as much attention as he could to the fox's description. And so far he kept up with what it was saying.

**AT FIRST I HAD PLANNED TO SIMPLY BLOCK THE PASSAGE THAT CONNECTS MY CHAMBER TO THE MIDDLE. BUT I HAVE COME TO REALIZE THAT THEN THE MIDDLE CHAMBER WOULD THEN ONLY TAKE YOUR CHAKRA. WITHOUT MY CHAKRA SLOWING THE PROCESS DOWN IT WOULD MEAN THAT YOUR END WOULD COMPLETELY EMPTY, LEAVING YOUR BODY DEVOID OF CHAKRA, AND THUS LEAD TO YOUR DEATH.**

Naruto nodded his head to show he was still listening, and that he could understand the logic. Being a vegetable did not sound good. He already hated eating the damn things. There was no way in hell he was gonna _be_ one. But there was one thing he didn't understand. "What do you mean its grabbing our chakras at different speeds? If it's the same seal it should be working the same way for both of us right?"

**WHAT I MEAN **_**HUMAN**_** IS THAT WHILE YOUR MEAGER LITTLE STORES OF CHAKRA ARE IMPRESSIVE BY **_**HUMAN**_** STANDARDS, IT IS INSIGNIFICANT TO A BEING LIKE ME. THE MIDDLE MEASURES OUR TWO CHAKRAS AND MIXES THEM AT DIFFERENT PACES. IT ABSORBS MINE AS FAST AS IT COULD BECAUSE IT IS ENDLESS, BUT IT CHIPS AWAY AT YOURS LITTLE BY LITTLE. **

It really can't get enough of insulting humans can it? "I didn't ask how stupid fox, I asked _why_."

The fox stared let out a huff of breath that rivaled hurricane winds to send the meager insect flat on his back. It stayed silent, but its mind was full of murderous thoughts. Good, he could use that.

**WHY? BECAUSE IF IT MIXED YOURS AT THE SAME PACE IT DID MINE THEN YOU WOULD BE DRAINED TO A HUSK IN MERE MOMENTS AND DIE, THEN I WOULD DIE AND THE SEAL WILL FAIL. CONSEQUENTLY, IF IT MIXED MINE THE SAME WAY IT DID YOURS IT WOULD FOREVER BE WORKING, NEVER ENDING. REMEMBER THIS BRAT. ALTHOUGH SEALS ARE JUST DRAWING MADE OF INK AND BLOOD, THEY STILL HOLD CHAKRA. THE SEAL KNOWS THAT IT WOULD FAIL ITS PURPOSE IN LIFE IF IT TOOK SHORTCUTS. AND NOTHING ALIVE CARES TO FAIL.  
**

Hold up there a sec. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Did you just say that seals are alive? Are you trying to tell me this fucker can _think_?" How in the hell was this even possible? Is it possible? Did the old pervert know anything about this? If he did he was gonna beat the crap out of him for not saying anything sooner!

**I ADMIT I WAS VAGUE. BUT NO, THE SEAL IS NOT QUITE ALIVE. BUT IT IS IN A SENSE AWARE OF ITSELF. I BELIEVE IT TO BE SIMILAR TO VIRUSES, A NON-LIVING ENTITY, SOMETHING THAT IS ONLY ALIVE WITH HALF THE RULES APPLYING.**

Well that makes it's a little easier to believe at least. "O. K. seals are alive but not alive at the same time, got that. But how? You said something about chakra earlier"

Somewhat surprised that he did not need to repeat what he had said, Kyuubi continued his lecture.

**CHAKRA IS THE UNIFICATION OF MENTAL AND SPIRITUAL ENERGY. ALL WRITTEN SEALS ARE GIVEN LIMITED ABILITY OF THOUGHT FROM THE MENTAL FACTOR OF CHAKRA AND ARE GIVEN LIFE BY THE SEAL MAKER'S OWN SPIRIT. SEAL MASTERS UNKNKOWINGLY CREATE LIVING ORGANISMS AT THE VERY BAREST SENSE OF THE WORD. IT IS MOSTLY THE REASON WHY ANY LIVING BEING USING SEALS IS INFINTELY MORE EFFECTIVE AT MANIPULATING ENERGIES THAN A DEMON ALONE, BECAUSE THERE ARE TWO BEINGS WORKING INSTEAD OF ONE.**

"H-uh" Naruto let the info cook in his mind for a few moments. This could be something huge later on. "So the seal is a virus-like thing that's mixing us together like a blender and both of us would disappear completely since its our souls that are being mixed and just our bodies."

The fox, now as stoic as he was evil, merely nodded.

Heavy stuff, but heavy is something familiar. "So what do we do about it?" Naruto hoped the fox did have a plan. Not-existing ever does not sound like worth going through.

**WE HELP IT.**

…

"No fucking way, is THAT what you came up with? I knew you were a heartless evil fuck but I didn't know you were also damn INSANE!"

Kyuubi stood on all fours at the insult and whipped his tails maniacally behind him for effect. Such insolence! Ignorance! Idiocy! This he will not stand for! This _human_ child will PAY!

Naruto felt pain shoot up his astral body as Kyuubi sent demonic energy straight into his brain. He was reduced little more that a human rag doll as Kyuubi's energy warped his mind neuron by neuron. But as suddenly as it came it left. Kyuubi's anger was reigned in as he remembered the grand scale of the conversation. The child will suffer, just like all the rest, but his day will come at another date.

And his pain will be infinite. He would see to that.

**PATIENCE BRAT, AND LISTEN. THE SEAL IS ONLY HALF ALIVE, AND AS SUCH HAS NO HIGHER THINKING. THUS IT IS SUSPECT TO DECEPTION.**

Naruto could not say anything, or even show that he heard what the demon said. Kyuubi's little energy boost gave him one hell of a brain freeze.

To what little that amounts to the demon's credit, he was actually patient enough for the blonde to get his bearings straight. It was only after that the child's pupils starting to stop swirling around in his eye sockets that he deemed it fit to continue.

**THE SEAL WEAKENS AS THE PROCESS GOES ON. IF WE USE THIS TRUTH THEN THE SEAL WOULD BE AT ITS WEAKEST POINT THE MOMENT BEFORE WE COMPLETELY MERGE. WHEN THAT MOMENT COMES, **_**AND IT WILL**_**, WE WILL SEPARATE FROM THE CENTER. THE SEAL WOULD BE TOO WEAK TO PROTEST, AND THE FORCE FROM OUR SEPARATION WILL TEAR THE SEAL IN HALF, THUS THE SITUATION WILL COME TO AN END.**

Naruto was still off-balance when the fox stopped talking, but he got the gist of it. So they were to trick the seal to a false sense of security and then stab it from behind. A good tactic; very ninja-esque. But even in his daze he could see one very large oversized red light, and it's the only reason that he said…

"Go to hell you bastard fox"

Shocked, angered, and every synonym in between, the fox roared with a furious howl and crashed against the giant gate that was his jail.

**IGNORANT FOOL! DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THE CONSEQUENCES THAT WE WILL FACE IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT?!**

Holding his ears from the octaves from the fox-bastards whining, Naruto could not help but smirk. "Oh yeah, I understand. I see the logic. I see how the plan could work. I see how the seal would be destroyed and I would be stuck with my human body and you'll be stuck with yours. I also see that after we get our bodies that there will be no more seal, and you'll be on your very merry way to destroy everything I care about, including me. Give me some credit stupid fox." The ringing in his ears had stopped, and now Naruto's arms and hands were cushioning the back of his head.

"I don't have to be genius to spy this trick"

The Kyuubi did not bother to deny the accusation, but did mockingly gasp in surprise at the genius remark. Still, the fox had to admit that somehow the brat had kept hold of his mind. Most _humans_ were much _less_ than that.

Naruto was now making splashes with the mental sewage water within his mind. He was getting kind of bored. "So I'm not gonna give you what you want. Or do what you say. I'd rather not exist that kill the stuff I care for. You can read my mind, you know what I mean." Now Naruto crossed his arms and gave the most solid stare he had ever given to the fox.

**FEH, EVER THE MARTYR NEH, HUMAN?**

A nod. "Damn straight"

There was a small staring contest between the two, but the Kyuubi quickly grew bored of it. With two wills such as their own, the end will never come.

**SO I MUST FIND A SECOND SOLUTION TO OUR DILLEMA. NO MATTER. IT WILL NOT TAKE LONG TO FIND ONE. IN THE MEANTIME I WILL ENJOY THE SHOW YOU ARE ABOUT TO GIVE ME**

Somewhat disappointed that the contest ended to abruptly, Naruto was caught flat-footed at the demon's off-hand comment.

"What the hell are you talking about stupid fox?"

Kyuubi, now jittery from what was about to come, could only give a true demon's smile.

**I FEEL A LITTLE BORED FROM OUR CONVERSATION, AND WOULD LIKE SOME ENTERTAINMENT. BE HAPPY CHILD, THIS IS MY GIFT TO YOU.**

Naruto realized all too late just what was going to happen.

"Oh Fu-"

Yes, oh fuck indeed.

-

During the entire confrontation between the boy and the fox, the fanatic extremists were busy trying to destroy the strange spinning cocoon of chakra that had formed around it in the middle of the fight. It looked not unlike the famed Hyuuga Kaiten, but it was self-sustaining and spun at a much more rapid rate. They were able to destroy the first layer by slowing it down with chakra strings and blowing it apart with their most powerful jutsu, but it seemed all for naught as another more quickly spinning sphere was churning below it. Already tired from breaking the first defense, the collected ninja sprayed out a rainbow of colorful language at the demon within. But they persisted, with even more ferocity than before, their hatred fueling them with the energy they desperately needed. It had been awhile since the demon first sealed itself within, and they feared it would come out with even greater force than before if they did not win soon.

Their fears were confirmed when they saw a hideous creature emerge from the strange spinning cocoon-like shield.

The creature had an elongated face of fox, and two rabbit-like ears, its claws were bigger than its hands or feet, and its red fur spiked around its frame like an angry porcupine, all nine demonic fox tails look like living whips made of barbed wire. But the most horrific feature was its eyes; they were solid black, as if the pupil had grown over the entire sphere.

One unfortunate fool made the decision of staring straight into those bottomless eyes; the result was falling into a genjutsu so bad that he took his own life to escape it.

The rest of the ninja were a bit apprehensive after that incident, but their morale was quickly restored when their leader took charge.

Their morale was quickly re-destroyed when they saw the fox-beast grab their leader and toss him to the center of the town.

"Who's next?" Asked the beast.

The screams that followed would haunt the survivors to the grave.

-

Yamato was having a grand time.

He had just sold a huge amount of his stock for a great price, and bough the same quantity for dirt cheap across the very same village! In fact, it was most likely the same stock he had in the first place!

Yamato gave a huge prayer of thanks to the gods of commerce, if they hadn't _not_ given any merchant skills to these ninja, he wouldn't have made such a huge profit!

This was the only reason he walked calmly down the street with a huge smile on his face when the rest of the populace was running around in mass confusion.

Some elite ninja suddenly fell out of the sky, not that badly hurt, but had a visible limp on one of his legs. A few minutes later, an intimidating fox-beast demon-thing fell out of the sky too and landed right on top of the elite ninja.

Yamato picked up his money sack and headed to the nearest exit, he didn't want to be involved in ninja matters, he had a family to return to…and feed for several months with this huge haul of his.

So he bid farewell to the village that made him a wealthy, and safe, man.

-

It was reveling in the surrounding chaos. Feeling emotions he had long forgotten. He particularly missed the satisfaction of seeing his prey squirm when he had subdued them at the Hokage memorial with a potentially fatal genjutsu. Maybe they would survive? They _were_ jounin. Theoretically, they should be able to handle it.

Hah! Yeah right.

It was now dealing with the ANBU member now; it had just landed upon him, and had given him a brutal beating while he was on the floor. Deciding to give the man some pity, he decided to end it with a ransengan to the face.

The blood that exploded from the body covered everyone unlucky enough to be nearby.

One man was actually stupid enough to stare with his mouth agape and had actually puked his guts out when he tasted a metal-like flavor rolling around his tongue. Bah! Weakling!

The carnage was glorious, and he made a show of holding the now decapitated body by giving a triumphant bellowing roar. With his pride restored and his duty done, the avatar of the fox tossed the mutilated dead ninja aside and receded into its host, a clearly satisfied smile on his lupine face.

Orange and black cloth soon replaced the chaotic redness of the body, and a face with blue eyes and blonde hair with undeniable birthmarks was revealed under the demon's skin.

Shivering, Naruto wobbly stood on weakened legs and dead arms. His skin was unblemished but steam could be seen rising from under his clothes. His eyes were closed from the pain he felt, but opened ever so slowly as it ebbed away.

When he did, he wished he didn't.

Everyone was staring at him, and when he meant everyone, he meant _everyone_. Naruto could pick up faces from the entire village that he knew, and some that were really high up in the chain of power. Tsunade herself was looking at Naruto in fear. But not fear _of_ him, fear _for_ him.

The same could not be said for everyone else.

When Naruto walked away from the body in any direction, the crowd he was facing took a few steps back. Complete and utter terror was evident in their eyes.

Naruto turned around to see three small children looking at him with eyes that held fear that he never saw before while they were centered on him. The Konohamaru Corps, their eyes that were usually filled with admiration, envy, and pride were now they were filled with fear, confusion, and question. Just like everyone else. Just like before.

Naruto knew that this was it. There would be no more chances. He knew that everything, _everything_ he ever wanted is now gone and he could never get it back. There was no reason in staying now.

So he left.

The action was instant, and although shaken, the reaction was even quicker.

The village had a fox to hunt.

-

Miles away the same figure from before widened his smile. He had accomplished what he wanted to do in this place. It was now time for the second phase of the first part of his grand master plan.

-

Naruto ran; he ran as fast as he could, to be using the Fox's chakra to run away from his own village is humiliating, but the reason behind it is even more so...He was so foolish, he really was a total idiot. Hokage? Him? Naruto laughed and cried at the same time. Like they would really want _him_ as Hokage! Especially now more than ever, he really was a fool, he really was an idiot...

Suddenly, a branch snapped. Naruto cursed, he was slowing down too much. He better pick it up, there was no way in hell he was going to die here. Not until he keeps his promises. All of them.

Naruto summoned three clones and spread out in different directions, leaving an explosion note to destroy the spot where he stood still. The less they know about his position the better.

Not two minutes after the explosion rocked the land he heard the rustling of leaves behind him. He couldn't tell the exact number, but it was a lot. And that's all he needed to know.

He grabbed his few remaining shuriken and smoke bombs and stuck them together. He threw them blindly behind him, hoping to catch his opponents off-guard.

It worked, somewhat. The bombs exploded midair, letting the unseen shuriken graze their targets, but not landing dead-on. Nonetheless his pursuers fell back, now more wary of Naruto.

_(Good, but now what?)_

Distance, he needed distance. And a crap load of it. But where? The only place he could think of is the desert. Gaara should be able to give him enough help to at least get him a day's head start. Sandstorm season is in too. It's his best chance.

Naruto Summoned one final clone and handed it an ink case and brush. His intention was already known so it sprinted off in another direction as son as it was handed the objects.

Now it was time to buy his clone some time. He just hoped these bastards weren't ANBU. Out of everything he could think of, the ANBU were Naruto's most feared enemy inside Konoha. They are the best of the best, and the ones who hold the longest of grudges, as it was proved by the nameless ANBU he had killed not too long ago. They have the closest bonds with their squad mates, mostly because they have been in the same team since they were gennin. When Kyuubi came and killed off their friends and family, well let's just say that the Hokage's orders were never followed to the letter.

He didn't need to hold them off for long, just long enough. A max 5 minutes. Lets see how tough the black ops can be.

Naruto summoned a dozen clones armed kunai and about faced straight into his hunters. Oddly enough they didn't toss any kind of knife at him. Maybe they weren't equipped with any? Could they have just chased him just to pave the way for a more suitable attack force? Maybe. But unlikely, they're probably just biding time. Good, they're helping.

A phantom pain exploded on the side of his head and the memories of one of his clones filled his mind. A foot had axed it out of consciousness, a melee fighter then. Not good. He still needed work on that particular school. As second clone's memories revealed that there were two melee specialists. The first one was hit by a pretty big foot. This one was kicked by a leg that was too thin to be attached to the said foot.

His third clone caught a glimpse of dark colored hair before a blunt metal object clash on the side of his head. It was the hilt of a heavy weapon, a BIG heavy weapon. Only weapon specialist use those things, fuck, he needed work on that too.

He better take care of the situation before it gets out of his hands.

Going through a set of seals that he had developed over the years Naruto surprised his unseen enemies by simply clapping in their direction…

…And thus creating a shockwave that uprooted several large trees and his pursuers along with them.

Not giving them any quarter Naruto went though a second set of seals and gagged a bit as a fountain of clear gooey stuff sprayed out of his mouth. Damn that shit tasted nasty!

He heard muffled orders and shuffling as his glue fountain soared though the air. The troupe that was closing in on him separated into different directions, but Naruto could see two stay in the same place. Intentionally waiting for the attack to hit them, it was their turn to counterattack.

The two waited for the goop to be as close as possible to them before spinning in place, soon their bodies glowed as the exported chakra from every pore from their bodies. Their bodies became balls of spinning light that caught and tossed his liquid like a child's plaything. And there was only one kind of ninja that Naruto could think that could do that.

"Hyuuga…" main family no less, damn he was in trouble. He _really_ didn't want to deal with their plugging system.

But all the tension in the air faced a grim sudden death when Naruto heard a familiar male scoff. "You disappoint me Naruto, a sonic boom and entrapping syrup? So predictable…"

Naruto froze. There was only one Hyuuga guy that he knew that bothered to learn his name. "N-Neji?" He shakily said, truly hoping it was not some ass hole under the transformation technique. If it was, then he was screwed. He just left a huge opening for a possible attack.

Neji appeared just in front of Naruto. It was when he just brought his head back up when they both heard a chorus of other voices screaming the same phrase. "Don't forget us Naruto!"

One by one Naruto's friends appeared. The rookie nine plus team Gai had appeared from the surrounding forest. Each having a different look etched upon their faces.

Well this could have ended worse. "How did _you_ guys find me?" He knew he set up enough false detours to mislead any one of them. If he really want to get away from them, and he did! They should not have been able of find him. Somberly, Naruto wished the ANBU found him instead. He didn't want them to find him.

It was Shikamaru who answered this time instead of Neji. "Che, between me, Sakura, Shino's bugs, Kiba's and Akamaru's noses, and two pairs of the Byakuugan, do you really think you could escape from our watch? Stop this troublesome running and follow us home, the lady Hokage wants to talk to you."

"No"

The reaction was immediate, everybody froze at the word. Naruto's loyalty to Konoha was second to none, _none_.

"What are you talking about Naruto you idiot! Of course you're coming with us! Stop being an annoying brat and come on!" This was of course from Sakura. Who else but her to yell at Naruto like that?

Then Naruto said something that undermined all that they knew from the usually happy boy. In a tone so cold that it shook them all to the core.

"Shut up Sakura."

Naruto wondered how much time he had left when he noticed the shocked faces of his friends, too much as far as he was concerned. He needed to drag this out, and at the same time he needed to sever any ties that he has with them. They were his friends, and he didn't want to drag them any deeper into this shit than necessary. So he might as well pull his trump card, he should tell them everything…the fourth's true fate, Akatsuki, Kyuubi, _everything_.

Naruto relaxed just the tiniest bit to show that he didn't want to fight. The rest mirrored him, but no one fell completely out of stance. Neji turned his eyes to Kiba who only nodded his head. This really was Naruto, but why was he acting like this? Using his finger tips Neji signaled Shikamaru, who accepted the task in his mind but made no outside confirmation. Everyone else did the same.

Sensing everyone was ready Neji fell completely out of stance and focused solely on Naruto. "So Naruto, are you going to tell us what happened out there?"

The blonde did not fall out of stance, he kept focus, but even he could not help but let his eyes fade as he relived his memories. This was gonna suck, but it had to be done.

"Have you ever felt the pain of being completely alone?" He got no answer, but he didn't really expect one. "I have, but you guys already know about that don't you?" Most of the rookie nine nodded to show they knew, Team Gai, still relatively new to Naruto simply stared.

"I had nothing for twelve years. No father, no mother, no brothers or sisters. Not even uncles, aunts, or cousins." He stopped momentarily to regain his own composure before continuing.

"It sucked, a lot. I didn't really know why, but I wanted to have one...a family I mean." Naruto used a hand to comb it through his hair. He was actually feeling a little bit lighter, talking. "I wondered...why not me? Did I do something wrong? Something bad? Make I could have fixed it, or undo what I did. But no, no one told me. No one was _allowed_ to tell me. Old man Hokage saw to that." He smiled as he thought about the old geezer, the law he passed might be the only reason why he was still alive today. He really owed him too much.

"But I still wondered why everyone hated me. What did I do? When did I do it? Could I fix it? Could I get away? I never did learn…that is, not until graduation." Naruto had fallen completely out of stance, lost in his remembrance. "It was all The Fourth's fault too. All my pain came from a guy who was already dead. Can you believe that? My own freakin idol was the reason I hurt so much"

Naruto chuckled a bit from the irony. "I swear, there isn't a person on the planet I hate more than the fourth. But at the same time, he's still my number one hero. How pathetic is that?"

Before Naruto could go on a stream of memories rushed into his head, his clones were disappearing. Fast. That means reinforcements would come here soon. He had to wrap this up _now_.

Neji and the rest of the group were trying to process all the info their friend had given them. Why did Naruto hate the fourth so much? What in the world could he have done to make Naruto hate him so much? But as soon as the questions popped up they quickly left, Naruto was already speaking the answer. "Did you know the nine-tailed fox demon attacked our home the day I was born? That's today huh? Convenient that." Naruto gave a small snicker to that bit of irony too, he couldn't help it. Of all days, this shit had to happen today! "You guys read the text books. The fox was a powerful demon, so powerful that he almost sent us to extinction." Naruto brushed his hair back at what was going to come next. How would they react? "it was very powerful…too powerful…it was impossible to kill, even for shinobi hands...even the fourth." There was a flash in his head as his last clone gave the okay. It was done. Good. "The fourth knew this you know. He knew he couldn't kill the fox so he did the next best thing. He sealed it. The fourth sealed the most powerful demon in existence into a little child using the combination of the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, Eight Trigrams Sealing Style and the Four Symbols Seal..."

It took a few seconds for the stuff to sink in, but then Neji, Shikamaru, Sakura, and Hinata visibly showed their shock, Naruto knew they would be the first to understand. They _were_ the sharpest of the group after all. Shino must know too but his choice of clothing hid his reaction.

"That baby was me, I am a jinchuuriki. I hold the Kyuubi's power within me. That is why I was hated, that is why I must leave." Naruto suddenly drew a dagger and stabbed his own hand, the blood dripped over the blade and on to the seal that was wrapped around the handle. Neji now using the Byakugan finally noticed what the seal was and ordered the group to jump the blonde, hoping to keep him still to hear their words before it's too late.

But in a flash Naruto was gone. No one present knew just what the hell happened. But if they just saw what they think they just saw, then for all they knew, Naruto was probably in Earth Country by now.

-

Naruto appeared only a mile away from where he was but disappeared just as quickly. It was only a make-shift relay point, the clone should take care of it if the pervert would try to use it. He would have to leave a clone for every point he used. If he did then not even Jiraiya would be able to find him. As big of a useless pervert he was Jiraiya he was their best bet in finding him. And that meant he was his biggest threat.

_(Sorry Ero-sennin, I'll make it up to you one day…if I ever go back)_ Go back. Naruto wondered if that was even possible. After all the shit that happened tonight, was there really a way to go back to Konoha and act like it never happened? Will the people be willing to accept him? Will they welcome him with open arms?

Or will they be waiting to slit his throat?

He remembered when that was all he could think about. He remembered the pain he went through as a child, alone and terrified, hated by everyone around him for reasons he couldn't fathom, he remembered his past sensei's and mentors...Iruka, Tsunade, Kakashi, and Ero-sennin too. He'll miss them all, and their freaky habits. He remembered the lonely nights in his apartment, the painful coldness of loneliness and the yearning of the warmth that only a loving family could bring. Naruto remembered the good times he had with the rookie nine, team Gai, and even Gaara and his siblings.

He remembered Sasuke too

Now it isn't remembering, now it's everything. He had to stay alive, stay ahead. He had to keep his head in the game, or loose it in the process. Right now he needed a plan, a good plan. But can he think of one?

Naruto steeled his resolve what the hell was he thinking about? He was Uzumaki Naruto! He'll find a way to get back, and defeat Akatsuki too! He'll even keep his promise to everyone back home! He _will_ become Hokage. This new strange new road he was forced upon would most likely be very dangerous. But then again, his entire existence has been dangerous. What's a little more danger going to add up to?

Nothing, cause he was Uzumaki Naruto.

"Believe it"

-

Meanwhile in a small village just south of Sunagakure, a red headed boy appeared out of the sand planning to meet one similar to him, a brother of sorts. But not now, right now he needed to rest, he would go tomorrow, Naruto was probably not home yet anyway...

-

Rai finished dramatically with the Rock family patented nice guy pose. The children awed as their families or guardian picked them up for another night of sleep.

The visitor followed Rai to the lodge, intent in getting some sleep for the night; after all he had to face another chapter tomorrow.

-


End file.
